Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night
by Shinobi-dono
Summary: With the Bebop Pirates venturing forth into the Grand Line, they find adventure and excitement laid out before them. However, when they reach their first island, all is not as it seems.
1. Entering the Grand Line

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

* * *

The wind rushed through his brown hair as though he were in the midst of a hurricane, the gale slapping his face and threatening to blow him away as he stood, his arms keeping a tight hold of the railing by his side, hoping that, even with the speed of their descent, it would hold. He knew he was not the only one, for by his side was a young woman with dark hair in a kimono likewise clutching the railing, with a few others including an orange-haired woman with black stripes in her hair gripping onto the mast, a man with slicked-back black hair in a fur coat clasping hold of another part of the railing on the opposite side. The only thing louder than the rushing wind and water around them was a certain albino's loud hollers of laughter, almost drowning out the sounds entirely.

"DAMMIT KAIN! IF WE DIE, I BLAME YOU!!!" yelled the brown-haired teen as he clutched the railing.

"WHITE-HAIRED SWINE!" This was from the man in the fur coat, whose eyes expressed nothing but hatred for the laughing man.

"AWESOME! IT'S INCREDIBLE!" This was from both women, who, unlike the brown-haired Captain and his regal sniper, seemed excited by the fact that their ship was sailing down the side of a mountain at breakneck speeds with the powerful current carrying them downwards. Needless to say, the Captain and Sniper was shocked that anyone could find such a dangerous experience 'exciting'. But then, they supposed, it was an apt word, even if they did crash and die in a horrible, Grand-Line-Entering death.

Yes, the Grand Line. A place where nothing, it was said, was normal, a place where the bizarre occurred often and the expected came rarely. From what the small group of pirates had heard of the place, surviving the Grand Line was a means of testing everything about a person, a place where one would be forced to their limits simply due to the competition they would face alone. But even so, the group of Pirates pressed on and chose to enter the Grand Line, each for their own reason.

The first would be their new member – a woman with orange hair with black stripes in it, like a tiger's fur coat, and wore a white jacket, the sleeves rolled up and the top button undone, with white trousers, matched by a pair of black martial-artist's shoes. Her emerald green eyes shone out against her comparatively pale face. This was their new chef, a woman by name of Tigress, which befitted her given her appearance. While none of the crew knew her ambitions, it was they who had accidentally dragged her along with them when the Marines of Orion attacked, resulting in her joining them. Still, she seemed not to mind, enjoying her new life as a pirate.

The next one was Roi – Or rather, as he preferred to be called, Prince Roi du Fusil. A young man in early adulthood whose black, slicked back hair, sharp, angular features and pointed, slightly upturned nose as well as his fierce, hawk-like eyes gave him a serious and no-nonsense feel. It was fitting, then, that he was that kind of person. His clothes, much unlike the others, consisted of an amber, chequered shirt with tight, black trousers, polished black shoes and a red fur coat. Aside from Tigress, he was the newest member, not recruited but instead demanded that he join the crew. With a gun pointed to his head, the Captain agreed and let him join.

The next one was the Navigator, a lax man whose easy-going ways and lazy nature were the bane of Roi's existence. Yes, this could only be Kain, a white-haired young man with slightly tan skin (An oddity amongst Albinos that wasn't entirely unheard of) whose garb consisted of a pair of flared, black jeans with a white, short-sleeved shirt tucked into his jeans. Black sandals were worn on his feet, the first footwear he had worn in years. A smirk seemed permanently etched onto his face. Of the group, it was his dream to see the world, much in common with Roi, only rather than simply just see the world, he would draw a map of it. How funny that two such people would have such a thing in common.

The second-to-last member of the crew was a young woman in her teens, the First Mate of the crew and the strongest member beneath the Captain, Kawakami Saiko. Dark hair like silk was pulled up into a top-knot, with only her bangs left to frame her face. Her body was slender, but with the right curves all around and a toned physique. She was clad in a red kimono with white lining. At her side, in an obi sash, rested her katana blade, ready for use at any time. She was, like Kain, a smiling face around the crew, her cheerfulness and optimism unsurpassed. It was her goal to find her father, who was somewhere on the Grand Line.

Finally, of course, there was the Captain himself, a young teen with chin-length straightened hair of a dark brown shade, although as of late it had been growing and his fringe and ends were beginning to get a bit uneven and jagged. This was Jared del Rey, often called by his official Bounty title 'Jared de Danser'. Of the crew he was something of a median – Not as serious as Roi, but not quite bursting with joy as was the case with Saiko. He was much like a punk in appearance, but his polite nature deviated from this. His clothing consisted currently of blue jeans with no shoes on, a black beanie hat on his head as well as white bandages wrapped around his upper body, which, while restraining his movements somewhat, were necessary due to the severe beating he had recently suffered. It was his dream to complete his father's final wish and make peace with his father's best friend.

"Watch out!" came a yell as the ship crashed into the sea, the wind finally calming down about them as they exited the river, although the sheer rocking of the ship almost threw most of the crew off of the ship and into the water. By this point in time Roi had chosen to scold Kain, blaming him for not telling them this would happen, but either way, the Captain couldn't help but let a smile grow on his face as he looked around. No longer were they in South Blue, no longer were they in familiar territory – What was before them was a vast new world, the Grand Line.

Still, even so, Jared couldn't help but feel angry towards the white-haired man as he suddenly found himself almost throwing up a second later – evidently, the shock of the boat crashing into the water took more out of him than he thought. It was a bit sad, really, that the white-haired man had to take all of this blame for something that was out of his control, but hey, they needed someone to blame, especially since it seemed that already their supply of whiskey and rum had almost disappeared since they had stocked up last.

"Whale! It's a Mountain-Whale!" came a call from both Navigator and Chef as the Captain looked up, his jaw dropping to the ground along with the others' as he saw what could best be described as a Whale the size of a mountain. A gigantic, deep blue mass extending out of the water, it's curved head alone making the crew's ship, the Siren's Song, look like a mere ant in comparison. Scratches and scars covered the head of the whale, obscured only by the badly-painted Jolly Roger on it's head (Racking his brain for a few minutes, he finally figured out it was a Skull with a Straw Hat on it.

"Oh, who are you guys supposed to be…?" came a voice, and quickly all of their heads snapped over to the side of the ship, where, standing upon a section of land at the base of the mountain, stood an old man, balding but with what resembled the petals of a flower surrounding his head. White hair from old age fell down either shoulder, not reaching far beyond said shoulders, while his white beard forked off after falling a small length down from his chin. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, and he seemed to be inspecting the crew, studying them with his eyes alone until his eyes met Jared's, at which point the two seemed to do nothing but stare at each other, as if trying to figure each other out.

"Isn't it impolite to ask others for their name without giving their own first, old man?" Jared spoke first, hardening his gaze. The air was tense, the man stared at them in such a way that Jared was beginning to feel the tension weighing down on his shoulders, so thick that one could cut it with a knife. Eventually, the old man opened his mouth, as though to speak.

"Sorry, the name is Crocus, I'm a Gemini, 71 years old and my blood type is AB-"

"Oi oi! I asked your name, not your life story!" Jared spoke, the others along with him sweatdropping at the old man's sudden action. Geez, all that tension only for the old guy to show it was all for no reason whatsoever.

* * *

It was only a few minutes after they had left the ship to listen to the old man speaking that they had found out so much about the Grand Line. The compasses, the Log Pose, the different types of islands on the Grand Line (categorized by what season they were in). It was so much to take in at once, but it soon dawned on them that something was missing, something very, very important.

"We don't have a Log Pose!" Jared commented aloud, smacking his forehead in frustration. Great, now how were they supposed to get from island to island in the Grand Line?

"All this time we spent… We were never prepared for it anyway…" added in both Tigress and Saiko, sighing. They were so excited to see somewhere new in the Grand Line, too.

"So now what do we do…?" Kain asked, raising a brow. It was as if for once he was on the same wavelength as everyone else, saying exactly what they were thinking. It was the old guy, Crocus, who spoke first.

"I'm afraid I already gave away my one to a bunch of kids like yourselves a day or two ago. As you can see, he's left his mark" he commented, gesturing to the large, badly-painted Jolly Roger on the Whale's head. As he said this he was busy getting a harpoon loaded into a gun, intending to get himself some sort of sea animal soon.

"Mister Crocus…" came a voice, and Crocus looked over to the Prince, whose hand was clasped around some sort of object. "Would this be said Log Pose…?" he asked, opening his hand to reveal a sort of wristwatch, but with a glass orb replacing the watch, a small needle fixed inside the orb. For the longest time the old man stood staring at the royal, and for a brief moment the Prince was almost thinking he had said something wrong, but common sense pulled him back and gave him the answer.

"Mister Crocus, can you please stop staring and answer my question?" he asked again, this time snapping the old man out of it. The others sweatdropped again. The old man did that way too much. Nodding, Crocus confirmed that it was, indeed, a Log Pose. Turning about on his heel, the royal held it out before Kain.

"I took this from my father before we left, since it looked like some sort of navigational instrument. You may keep it, but I demand that you do not lose it or break it, understood?" he asked, a brow raised as he waited for an answer. In response the albino grinned, and quickly snatched the Log Pose, putting it on his arm.

"Right! Just give me some time and I'll have it fixed onto the first island!" he commented, smirking to himself. The others however seemed to smirk and smile alongside him – Their journey on the Grand Line was beginning.

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! A little short, but I hope you enjoyed. This is only the prologue, so expect it to get a lot better after this! Until next time, please leave a review! **


	2. Speaking With Tigers

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I no own One Piece.**

* * *

A sigh escaped Jared's lips as he lied back on his bed in the Captain's quarters, his crew all spread out across the ship. Currently Tigress was busy preparing lunch, whilst Kain was at the wheel, guiding the ship. As per usual, Roi was playing darts up on the deck, and Saiko was off practicing her swordsmanship somewhere else. Jared himself was currently busy doing one of the few things he did in his spare time that wasn't musically inclined – read the newspaper. Managing to get a copy of the Grand Line Times, he had chosen to read up on what was currently going on. And currently, as he found, there seemed to be little going on. A few stories on pirate raids and Marine accomplishments here and there, word of rebels likewise in Alabasta rising up. Nothing in particular seemed cheerful (At least amongst the big stories anyway), although one thing did catch his eyes – Bounty Posters.

The first poster he found impressed and surprised him – A young kid in a straw hat, with a big, goofy grin on his face. Black, messy hair could be seen under his hat, and beneath one eye was a scar from god-knows-what. But the most shocking thing was his bounty – 30 Million Beli! A shock to find such a young kid having double his own bounty. Looking through the posters, he continued to see who else was out there.

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

'**Clockwork'**

**Zechs Klarius**

**74,000,000 Beli**

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

**Foxy**

'**The Silver Fox'**

**24,000,000 Beli**

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

'**Laughing Killer'**

**Mykki Syn**

**34,000,000 Beli**

After that there wasn't much else, those were really the main bounties that caught his eye. The first featured a picture of a man named Zechs, a man who seemed calm and collected, an intellectual with blond hair reaching chin length, although the ends of his hair were all jagged, including the fringe. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, and his eyes seemed to gaze off to one direction.

The second bounty was of a man with an odd nose, and hair that was split up into two horns, or so they looked to Jared. By comparison to the first he seemed far less serious. Still, he had a decent bounty, higher than Jared's, at least. He knew bounties were not indicative of strength level, but it was still just as bad – They were indicative of threat level. If they were that much of a threat to Marines, they could easily be of a similar threat to fellow pirates.

The third was a blue-haired man, lanky and grinning widely. The one thing that ruined the innocence on his face was the sheer amount of blood covering his face, and not his, either. A knife was being twirled about in his fingers, slightly blurred in the photo. This was only 34 Million Beli, but it was the one that bugged him the most.

Still, despite this, he was taken out of his thoughts as a knocking commenced on his door. Putting aside the bounty posters and the newspaper he had been reading, he chose to look up, over to the door, and speak for the person on the other side of the door to hear.

"It's open" he called, and with a turn of the knob the door was gently pushed open, revealing the newest member of his crew, Tigress, wearing a plain white apron over her normal clothes. Unsurprising, really, given that she was their chef. What was unusual about this scene was that he had never actually spoken to her before, despite the fact he allowed her to join them. It was as though she simply integrated herself into the crew. It was different, strange, so as a result Jared felt a bit awkward in front of her like this. He noted she was holding a book in her hands, but ignored it since it seemed unimportant.

"You always this shy? I remember Saiko telling me the Captain was nervous around pretty girls like myself" she spoke, a small smirk on her face as she said so. "I guess this means the Captain must think I'm stunning…" she chuckled to herself, only for the young dancer to interject.

"Geez, I already got over that, I just…" he trailed off a bit, unsure what to actually say. When the familiar chuckling reached his ears, he knew he had lost this debate. Sighing, he continued down a different path, getting back on topic. "So, would I be right in guessing lunch is ready? Or is there some other reason for you showing up here?" he asked, raising a brow. The woman with the tiger-striped hair nodded in answer.

"I was just curious, I haven't really spoken with you like this yet, so I wanted to know just what kind of person and Captain this 'Jared de Danser' is. After all, I am a part of his crew, am I not?" she asked, that small smirk ever-present on her lips. The door having been closed behind her, she leant back against the door, awaiting some type of response from her Captain.

"What do you want me to say? Hobbies? Likes and dislikes? There's not really much to me. All I am is a young martial artist who loves music".

"Oh come now, I'm sure there's more to you than that, Captain. Besides, last I checked, you were also a Devil Fruit user as well as a music-loving martial artist. Ne, Captain?" she asked, her smirk growing slightly as he looked at her for a moment before sighing.

"Fine then, what do you want to know?"

"Hm… I suppose the best thing to ask would be where do you come from in South Blue, hm? Or are you even from South Blue?" she spoke, an eyebrow raised curiously.

"I was raised on Karate Island in South Blue, but you're right, I wasn't born there. I was born in West Blue, on an island named Toroa. A lot of musicians were born there, I was really young at the time but I remember a guy named 'Byron' who left one day and became a pirate. Never heard what happened to the guy, but whatever, it wasn't like I knew him…" Jared replied back, and despite what little information it was, Tigress still held that look of interest in her eyes.

"Oh? How funny, you remind me of that Marine Captain… Jan Van Edgar, that is…" she commented, causing Jared to immediately snap his head up to look over to her, his eyes widened, his brow furrowed. Being compared to _that guy_ was insulting, she noted, but she shook her head as he looked at her.

"Oh come now, I don't mean it like that. It's just, during my time in Orion, I heard a lot of things about him. Did you know he loves the drums? Every day the town could hear him playing loudly on his drum kit whenever he was bored. I bet it's where he gets all that arm strength…" she muttered, chuckling to herself.

Now Jared felt weird, taking all of this information in. That guy played the drums? He was interested in music? Somehow, fighting the man had made Jared forget he was even human. No, more than that, Jared hadn't been able to picture him as anything but a monster. One thing he knew for sure was that his eyes weren't that of a human's. Those eyes of Edgar's were terrifying, horrific.

Then again, maybe he was still right – Raijin had been a demon before he became a Kami and he played the drums. Maybe it was just the one instrument demons loved most.

"So, where were we?" she spoke, raising a brow. Although, a second later her memory managed to bring their discussion back to mind, and so she spoke again. "Ah, I remember. You said you were raised on Karate Island. How did you get there? I'm sure you couldn't have swum there".

"I was ditched. Parents threw me into the ocean, expecting me to die, I guess. Never knew why, never really cared. I was taken in by a guy named Musica not long after" he spoke, not sure why he was even bothering with this, he hadn't even told the rest of his crew about this. Then again, he wasn't really keeping it a secret either. If they asked he'd probably tell them too. Still, to him it seemed more the type of thing he'd tell Saiko or Kain first, given that they were the first two members of his crew. "What about you, I don't hear you giving me any information. Anything interesting about you?".

At this there was a pause, a brief silence as the woman stood there, thinking to herself, as though wondering what exactly to say. Eventually however that smirk of hers shone through and she looked down at him, speaking up. "If you must know, I'm from the Grand Line. I was born on the island of St. Poplar. If we ever get there, maybe I'll show you all around…" she spoke, giving him a warm smile before turning on her heel, proceeding back out the way she came with book in hand. "It was fun talking with you, Captain" she spoke, preparing to exit, but suddenly a violent jolt threw both pirates sideways, Jared almost falling off of his bed and Tigress requiring the wall as a support. Turning to each other, they gave each other a look of confusion before running back out.

* * *

Strong winds and powerful waves slamming into the Siren's Song greeted them, rain drizzling down from above as the ship moved through the rough waters. Kain did his best to steer the ship with the wheel, and both Saiko was running back and forth to assist with the sails. Jared was shocked by how quickly a storm had come, but as he looked out over the railing at the side of the ship, he saw a real danger – Pulled by a large beast resembling a cross between a whale, a shark and a frog was a pirate ship, large with a black and red paint job, a total of three masts running along the length of the rather long ship, with cannons all aiming for the Siren's Song. A Jolly Roger flew from the central mast, pitch black with a silver, crescent moon in the middle, and a skull located in the center of that crescent. Needless to say, they were not friendly.

"Jared! Ti-chan! I need you to help take care of the ship! Roi's busy trying to hold them off with his own fire from our cannons, but we can't last forever!" Kain called, and quickly the two nodded.

It seemed lunch would have to wait.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! I hope you liked it. I know it's not much, but I didn't really have much to work on, and I didn't feel like suddenly jumping into the pirate attack. Still, I suppose it was good in a way – It would be weird if I continued the fic without having Jared and Tigress having spoken to each other even once. But nonetheless, I know nothing much happened, but worry not, for the next chapter will be full of action!**


	3. Conflict on The Sea

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

It was times like these that Jared liked to wonder what kind of person he was in a past life to get this kind of horrible Karma.

Lashing out with another powerful kick, he managed to knock away a cannonball aimed for the ship, slamming it into the ocean where it could do no harm. Yet even so, another round came quickly after, and Jared was forced to run quickly to intercept, kicking it away using the full strength of his legs. While he was busy with the barrage of cannonballs on his side of the ship, up at the other end of the ship was Tigress, who was likewise fending off the cannon fire, showing a rather unexpected level of strength as she knocked away the cannonballs with her fists. Still, Jared had little time to dwell on it as yet another round came, prompting him to leap up and kick it away, sending it crashing into the ocean.

"This is really getting on my nerves…" Jared commented as he landed back on the railing, watching through the rain their foes – From the distance they had been at it was difficult, but their foes had caught up a bit in the storm, and now Jared could make out a few figures. In particular, standing atop the figurehead was a young man in his late teens, dark hair falling every which way about his face, odd spikes jutting out at random intervals and blonde tips at likewise random points. His clothing consisted of a black, short-sleeved shirt, a pair of baggy, lavender trousers, long white gloves extending past the elbow and, clutched in his hand, a katana with a hilt reminiscent of a pair of crescent moons back-to-back, in a dark black scabbard. From the way the young man seemed to stare back, Jared couldn't help but wonder if he was the Captain.

"Jared!"

Snapped out of his thoughts by the yell of a certain samurai woman, Jared's attention was redirected to a cannonball heading straight for him. Quickly he attempted to hop up and knock it down, but the First Mate did it for him, leaping up and knocking it back with the blunt side of her sword (After all, it would do no good to ruin the sharp edge). Landing back down on the deck she readied her sword, obviously intending to aid him and Tigress in the protection of the ship.

"We'll have to worry about the storm later, right now, the Pirates are more important!" she spoke, prompting Jared to agree with her. For now they had to deal with these guys.

The three pirates now looked up, watching as another wave of cannonballs was fired, four this time sailing through the air towards the ship. Quickly, Jared leapt up and swung out with his legs, knocking two of the cannonballs off course with no problem. Likewise Tigress and Saiko both managed to repel a cannonball each, only for them to realize they had missed one as a sudden crash was heard, and Saiko turned to see a part of the railing behind them broken clean through. They were only lucky it hadn't hit the deck itself and gone through.

"Damn! The storm's messing with our vision!" Jared announced, annoyed. Tigress and Saiko both nodded in agreement, although at least their enemy's aim was off slightly due to the rain. That would account for something, at least. The sound of cannons blasting again was luckily heard over the waves and storm, and quickly the group moved to intercept the cannon-fire. Each one managed to knock away one cannonball each, the other cannonballs either missing the ship or crashing into a repelled cannonball.

For a while all that happened was this ongoing cycle of cannon-fire and ship defence, the pattern repeating itself over and over and over again. Jared, Saiko and Tigress knew they couldn't keep up forever however – The effort of deflecting one cannonball on it's own was difficult enough as it was. Deflecting several? Now that was a difficulty they were not used to. Letting out a yell of anger the captain leapt up and kicked aside yet another cannonball, which slammed into the water with a great impact, a truly enormous splash echoing in his ear. Quickly another came, and this time he whipped around his legs again, kicking away the second cannonball. As he did so however, he could not help but wince in pain slightly as he knocked away the heavy dome, sending it back where it came from. Landing down on the deck he fell to his knees, clutching his legs.

'_Dammit!'_ he thought to himself, pain, confusion and anger clear on his face. _'Why? Why is this happening now? My legs… They're screaming in pain! Are the cannonballs that heavy?'_ he asked silently, his hands keeping a tight hold of his legs.

"Jared!"

A voice called out to him – Quickly his head snapped up, and he looked over to see Saiko, a look of concern painted on her face. Perhaps he would have said something by now, but before he could tell her anything, another boom sounded out – Another wave of attacks was coming.

Both figures turned towards the enemy ship, but saw nothing heading their way. It was… Odd. They hadn't imagined it, had they? That loud ringing… Wait, how had they even heard it so well, over the sound of the waves and the storm around them? Before, if they did hear it, it was almost inaudible anyways, only a faint sound, but this time it had been loud, it had been heard by all. Staring out into the ocean and at the incoming pirate ship from afar, their questions were answered as all of the crew members expressed visible shock at what was happening – At first they saw tiny people, like ants, rushing across the far-away ship, and the mast of the ship began to bend out of shape. Slowly it began to lean over to one side, bending further and further, until a loud snap rang out, the mast toppling over completely and falling into the sea. The panicked screams of the enemy filled their ears, and the group looked at each other in confusion. It took the footsteps of someone rising up from below deck to snap them out of it. Looking over to an open trap-door in the deck, they listened as the noble figure began to speak.

"I've managed to pinpoint and break their mast, Captain. We have won the battle".

* * *

"Ringringringring! Ringringringring! Ringringringring! Ringrin-"

A hand clasped the receiver of the ringing Den Den Mushi Snail, and quickly pulled it up to his ear. In the dimly-lit room, illuminated only by the bright lights of the buildings outside the large window, sat a large figure behind a desk, a glass of wine in his hands. With his back to the window, and the source of light, his features were impossible to make out, hidden by the shadows. Taking a sip of his wine glass he finally spoke, his voice rough like a mafia boss'.

"Who is this, calling this number…?" he spoke, only to turn silent as the caller began speaking. Pressed against his ear, no sound escaped, making it impossible for anyone but the listener to hear. The shadowed man nodded, hearing what was said.

"So they've passed? In that case, they'll be heading this way. You've done good, kid" he commented, and silently he put down the receiver, ending the conversation. Taking another sip of his wine, a smirk crept onto his face.

* * *

Sighs escaped the lips of the five crew members as the storm finally ended – Having escaped the worst of the Grand Line's storms, they now began to venture across calmer waters. Each of the five took the time to relax, far too tired after the whole ordeal to really care about anything else. The white-haired Kain took to sitting in a chair up on the higher deck where the wheel was, to make sure they stayed on track, while the prince chose to spend his time polishing his pistols. The samurai girl Saiko was lying on a fold-out chair, almost asleep by the look of things, while their cook, Tigress, was busy reading a novel titled "'Peacock Fan' by Kujaku Himeji" in a similar fold-out chair next to Saiko.

Sitting with his guitar in his lap, meanwhile, was Jared. In the Crow's Nest, he was to be seen lost in thought, his head hanging, with his fingers plucking the strings, playing a slow, sombre version of 'Bink's Sake'. Thoughts were plaguing his mind – What had happened back there? He had been doing so well – So why had his legs given out on him like that? What had gone wrong there? Looking down at his bare feet, he silently asked them, as though thinking they could actually answer. Receiving no answer he sighed. Had he really been expecting one?

"Oi! Guys!"

Kain's voice – Jared quickly recognized – Called out to the entire crew, earning Jared's attention. However, as he lifted his head, he could only stare in shock at the sight before him – Ahead was the first island of the Grand Line, a large flatland filled with grassy plains, very few trees littered across. But in the centre of this flatland was something Jared had never seen before – A gigantic, black dome, immensely wide and high, so incredibly huge he almost mistook it for a smaller island whale like Laboon before. So great in size, it was, that one could fit an entire town – No, an entire _city _within it. Whether he realized it or not, the Pirate Captain's jaw hung wide open, although luckily he was not the only one. Below, on the deck, everyone looked at the dome with wide eyes, jaws hanging, as though they couldn't believe what was before them. Finally, Saiko spoke.

"Is that… Is that what I think it is?" came her somewhat shaky voice, still locked in disbelief. Slowly, Kain nodded.

"Yeah… That's the first island of the Grand Line – Yamino Land".

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Heya- Oh, crap, I'm really late, aren't I? Well, to be honest, I'm sorry – I haven't had much inspiration for this chapter, and writing it was difficult. It's my first time writing a battle on the sea, although I hope I can do better later in this story.**

**But anyways! I'm sure you're glad to have this chapter, at the very least! I hope I haven't lost too many fans… But nonetheless, I promise, I'll try not to miss updating again! You have my word!**


	4. The Conflict Continues

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

Kain sighed as he walked about – After having hidden their ship in a small bay not far from here, the group had decided that it was best to begin wandering the island and find out what the hell that huge black dome was. Of course, the crew had decided to split into two groups to do this – Himself and Jared in one group, Roi and the two girls in the other group. A part of Kain envied Roi right about now, as his Captain was unusually quiet right now and being with the two women sounded a lot more fun.

They had been going at it for a while, looking around to find someone or something, but even so they had failed to find anyone who could tell them what the dome was, let alone any form of civilization at all. Heck, he wouldn't have even known there was life on this island if it weren't for the unnatural dome in the centre of it! The white-haired male pondered what it was it could be, but soon got bored of that and decided to think of other things instead, like what Tigress was up to right no-

"Kain, you see anyone?". The comment snapped Kain out of his thoughts and he turned to Jared, who had been looking over across the landscape on his side of the path. That brought him back to his earlier thoughts – What _was _up with him? He was being so… Quiet. It was weird. Normally he was a lot less quiet. Not exactly loud, but he was sociable, at least. He seemed only to speak now when necessary. Not to mention, he hadn't heard him play the guitar or sing in a while. Another odd thing about what was going on with him lately.

"No, I haven't. Although, I'm sure someone's out there!" Kain replied, his voice carrying that same optimism it always had. His Captain's only reply however was a small nod of the head, before he turned back to look out over the landscape. Turning back to look ahead on the path, Kain began to ponder over it – Jared's attitude, the island, everything. In his thoughts he joked to himself that he was being a bit too much like Roi, but ignored himself. He had to keep thinking – How could he cheer up Jared?

Maybe he'd ask Saiko later, she was cheerful enough.

"Hey! Guys!"

With that call entering their ears the two teens turned to see the other group walking towards them, the black dome not far behind them. Kain and Jared both chose to walk towards them likewise to see if they had found anybody, if nothing else. As they neared, the sniper of the group stepped ahead of the two girls, his face reflecting anything but success.

"It seems the island is deserted. Aside from the large dome in the centre, there doesn't seem to be any towns" he spoke, and although the white-haired male sighed, the Captain of the crew had something to say.

"What do you mean 'aside from the dome'?" he asked. At this point Saiko stepped forwards to speak.

"Roi thinks the dome might actually house the population of this island!" she exclaimed, alarming the two teens. All of the people on the island, within that very dome? But why? "He told us that it would make no sense otherwise – no Marine base in the world aside from Marineford and Mariejois needs such a huge space, and the dome couldn't belong to some other organization – I mean, what organization in the world needs an entire city's worth of space?".

For a moment Jared pondered it – That did make sense. Except… Why would a city need such a huge dome in the first place? What could possibly warrant need for such a structure?

"That's crazy! I bet ya ten thousand Beli it ain't a city!" Kain jumped into the conversation, smirking as he looked at Roi. The others sweatdropped at his antics, save for Saiko, who just giggled. Sighing, the Prince began his retort.

"That's hardly worth betting over-"

"'Sides, kid, the guy in the coat's right. It _is _a city" chirped in an unfamiliar voice, and all of their eyes were redirected towards a figure walking towards them, a teen like themselves with dark hair that had blonde highlights, wore dark clothing, and had a scabbard at his side. His shirt bore a Jolly Roger with a skull located in the centre of a Crescent moon, and at his side was a katana in its scabbard. Something told them this was the Captain.

At the side of this figure was the one who spoke – A slightly older-looking man with a toned physique, wearing a pair of light-blue trousers, dark sneakers, a black, form-fitting top zipped up at the front and a pair of orange arm-warmers on his forearms. His face was thin looking, and his eyes were hidden behind the long fringe of his strawberry-blonde hair.

Behind these two, meanwhile, was a large number of figures in dark clothing, each armed and tough looking. None of the crew needed an introduction – this was the crew the Bebop Pirates had fought earlier at sea.

"That was some pretty annoying shit, ya know! I feel really ticked about what ya did to our mast! We had to leave some o' the guys behind to work on repairin' the mast while we rowed after ya!" he spoke again, irritation evident in his voice.

"Why are you following us?!" Jared asked, the others behind him all taking out their weapons or assuming a proper fighting stance. Glaring daggers at the still-silent teen with the Jolly Roger on his shirt, his action somehow spurred on the enemy teen to speak.

"Isn't it obvious…?" he asked in a cold monotone, his hand now grabbing the hilt of his katana. Slowly drawing it, his eyes rested on the comparatively smaller crew, his face expressionless.

"We wanted to have a little fun".

With that the crew behind hollered in laughter, the crowd racing forth as though the teen had given them permission to attack. Swinging with sabres and knives and all sorts of weaponry, the crowd of pirates attempted to overwhelm the smaller pirate crew, only for surprise to reach their faces as both Kain and Saiko jumped ahead of Jared, each one managing to repel their own fair share of the enemy forces.

"Jared-Sencho!" Saiko spoke, her normally cheerful voice now more serious. "What should we do?".

For a moment, it seemed as though the teen had gone silent, undecided on what exactly to do. Letting out another holler the crowd, now taking the smaller crew a bit more seriously since their first charge failed, shot forth, ready to cut their foes to pieces and the like. Realizing the little time, Jared made his decision.

"W-We run! Everyone, run!" he exclaimed, only for both Saiko and Kain to look at him as though he had grown another head. Run? From this crew of pirates? The two hadn't expected such an order. "In a large, open space like this, fighting huge numbers isn't a good idea! We'll run, and sort out a plan of action later!".

Reluctantly agreeing, the Bebop Pirates now ran in the opposite direction as the enemy crew came, and as the pirates gave chase, brandishing their swords. Leaping down one of the few slants in the layout of the land, they continued to run, never looking back, instead looking forwards towards their captain as he ran as quickly as he could with his trained legs.

"**Espada Oscura!**"

The group only managed to duck just in time as a black wave of energy flashed overhead, before shooting off ahead of them and slicing clean through a boulder. None of them needed to look back to know it had been the work of the Crew's Captain, although Saiko could only stare wide-eyed at the fantastic display, almost not reacting when Kain pulled on her arm to lead her on with them, knowing they needed to escape.

"It's getting dangerous – If they manage to circle us, we'll be caught, just as Jared said" commented the sniper, the others nodding.

"Guys, we need to hide from them. Just running isn't going to deter them" Tigress added in, and a look of inspiration came to both Saiko and Kain's faces at the same time, both smirking.

"We'll use the dome! Within there we can plan ahead and, if we're lucky, we may be able to keep them out!" they chimed in tandem, earning a look of approval from the rest of the crew.

"Fine then – We enter the dome!" Jared ordered, and quickly they began to race towards the dome, which was quickly nearing, only a few dozen feet away.

"Captain Night! They're heading for the dome!" a few of the pirates called, the Captain, 'Night', holding his blade in preparation for an attack.

"Then we shall cut them down where they stand. **Espada Oscura!**" he remarked, and once again he swung, releasing a wave of dark energy from his blade that shot forth, but this time Saiko was quick to turn around, one hand on the hilt of her sword, the other on the scabbard. Drawing it she leapt up, readying her blade.

"**Ryuujin no Kai!**" she called, swinging her blade and clashing directly with the centre of her foe's attack. In a surprising display of power her blade broke through, cancelling out the attack with an equal but opposite force. In his shock the young Captain paused, surprised that his attack could be pushed off like that, before watching as she began to run away, zipping off at great speeds. Clutching his sword, he gave chase.

* * *

Despite the chase given, Jared was glad to say that it seemed like they were in the clear – Having managed to keep ahead of the enemy crew they had reached their destination, finding a doorway on the front. Quickly telling of how they had been chased by pirates (And, of course, leaving out that they too were pirates), they were let in quickly before the enemies could enter in. But as they entered the dome, all of them were shocked by what they saw.

Tall buildings, big streets, a night-time sky caused by the dome, with the source of light being the many lanterns scattered amongst the town. It was a city of the night-life, with casinos, bars and other joints filling up the city (Kain was pretty sure the red light district wasn't too far away).

"This is Yamino Land…?" Jared asked, blinking.

"We're here until the Log Pose resets, so let's enjoy it!" Kain exclaimed, only for Roi to shake his head in disapproval.

Somehow this place really didn't feel right to him.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! Another chapter's up. It's not much of a change since last chapter, although I wanted to take it a bit slower than the first fic. Although, that said, the end feels rushed to me… Oh, and as for the attacks, here's the guide:**

**Espada Oscura – If anyone's watched Bleach, they'll know where the name comes from – It means 'Dark Sword'. Using his own dark ki energy, Night infuses his blade with ki and fires it in a crescent-like arc using the swing of his blade. **

**Ryuujin no Kai – Translating to 'Ryuujin's Cancel' (And punned with 'Ryuujin's Sea'), the move is essentially a manoeuvre where Saiko delivers a counter-move to stop the attack, using an equal but opposite force.**


	5. A Song To Cheer Someone Up

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

* * *

**

Letting out a yawn, Jared took a sip from the pint glass he had in front of him, wondering how long the whole ordeal with the other crew had been going on for – the battle at sea, as well as escaping on land, made it feel like an eternity had passed since they slept last. What time was it, he wondered? After only half an hour in this dome, he had lost track of time – It looked like it was always night-time in this place, making it confusing for him. Looking over, he checked up on the others as they engaged in their own acts.

Kain, as it were, had decided to have a drinking contest with the first mate, Saiko, both participants already looking a little bit more than tipsy. Their cook, Tigress, had meanwhile chosen to sit at the bar like him, but was too engrossed in her novel to pay attention to him, a small, empty glass in front of her. The final member of his crew, a certain prince, had chosen to engage a regular in a game of Pool, a game that, so far, he seemed to be winning, managing to sink another ball into one of the pockets as Jared looked over to him. Turning back to his own drink, the pirate decided to mull over the situation to himself, thinking about all that had happened so far on their visit to the island.

* * *

"Heh, your face is pretty red, Sai. Don't you think you should quit?"

"Oh? Look who's talking – Your face is red enough to guide a sleigh through a snowstorm. Should we start calling you 'Rudolph', Kain?"

Neither one wanting to let the other win, both pirates took up their glasses and poured themselves some more, taking a quick swig in unison once their glasses were full, before repeating the process over and over again. Watching them from the corner of his eye as he waited for his turn, Roi shook his head – And he thought Kain was the only drunk on board. It looked he was slowly infecting the rest of the crew. Looking over, he saw his opponent sigh as the ball failed to enter the pocket, instead bumping off the side before slowly rolling to a stop. Pulling up his cue he circled the table before leaning over, aiming the tip of his cue behind the white ball, using his mind to calculate what path the ball would move in.

'_Regardless of what he says, the Captain is hardly in the best of moods – He must be a fool if he thinks the others haven't noticed'_ he commented to himself in his thoughts as he took his shot, the white ball shooting forwards and ricocheting off of the cushion. _'What is it that has him so off? With his strength, it wouldn't have been a problem fighting off the pirates, regardless of the numbers advantage. Something else is interfering with his decision-making'._ Looking back to the white ball, it had managed to connect perfectly with one of the striped balls, managing to sink it into a pocket. Rounding the table again, he now aimed the white ball for the eight-ball, his expression focused.

'_As much as I prefer cautiousness, it is hardly befitting our Captain'_ he told himself, knocking the white ball into the eight-ball. As expected, his aim was true, and it's path guided it to the corner pocket, where it sunk in perfectly. The match was his. His opponent swore.

* * *

As it would turn out, the Sniper was not the only one who had noticed – Despite her apparent focus on the novel in her hands, a paperback edition of the 'Peacock Fan' novel by Kujaku Himeji, her thoughts lingered on the Captain's choice in abandoning battle and his currently rather unusual behaviour. While it was true that she knew him the least compared to the rest of the crew, she was a good judge of character – The Jared she had been told of by Kain was far different to this Jared. He did not seem like the Captain who had fought a Marine Captain to escape Bliss with the Sniper Prince, nor did he seem like the kind of person who had saved an island from a revolution by defeating a fierce Samurai. He was more… She wasn't quite sure how to put it, but it wasn't right.

Casting a brief glance to her side, she caught him looking over to Roi's pool game before turning back to his drink. How odd – He was even less social than Roi, it would appear. Was it certain thoughts on his mind? Something breaking his focus from everything else, clouding his thoughts? For a moment, she thought about, but eventually she came to a decision – Grabbing his attention with a purposely loud sigh, she spoke.

"Oh my, it looks like Kain and Saiko are going a bit overboard!" she commented, gesturing in the direction of the two, who seemed to be chugging booze like there was no tomorrow. "Aren't you going to try and stop them? I'm sure if you don't, the two will end up waking tomorrow with a horrible hangover. Of course, we've all seen Kain wake up like that most of the time anyways".

Having managed to successfully grab Jared's attention, the Captain nodded in agreement, muttering out a 'yeah' in agreement. Chuckling, she continued.

"Oh? What's wrong? Cat got your tongue, Captain? You were much more talkative back on the ship" she commented.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just a bit distracted, I guess…" he muttered, Tigress staring at him as though he had stated the obvious. With a sigh, she spoke again.

"'A bit distracted', you call it? I'm not a fool, Captain. I may not know you as well as the others, but they have told me about you – This is far too strange for you to be acting. Any thoughts you'd like to share?" she asked, Jared looking at her with a little surprise. "I knew it" she continued. "Your silence speaks volumes, Captain. So you _do _have a problem-"

"Oi, what makes you think-" he interrupted, only to be cut off.

"What kind of man, I wonder, would so easily fight a Captain for the sake of someone he barely knew, yet decline and run away from another battle? You're not new to fighting, so it makes me wonder why now, of all times, you would show such spinelessness…" she interrupted him in turn, eyes focused on him. "You aren't one to go around picking fights, I know, but this time it was a fight someone else started, like all of the others. You aren't a man to run from fights, so why start now?".

The Captain, lacking anything to say, was speechless. He turned and looked down to his glass, picking it up and taking another sip, only for the Cook to butt in again.

"Just remember, Captain. I'm all ears – One shouldn't keep their problems bottled up. So tell me, what is the problem?" she asked.

"Alright, alright! C'mon people, tonight is Flannagan's Karaoke Night! So lets see ya come on up!" came a loud announcement, and everyone in the bar including Jared and Tigress promptly turned their heads up to the stage at one end of the bar, where the proprietor was standing, speaking into a Ko Den Den Mushi connected to a speaker. "Providing music is our house band, Daft Skunk! Anyone care to show off their musical talent, tonight's your chance! So, any volunteers?" the proprietor asked, earning a smirk from Tigress.

"Well well, Captain, how about a song to make you feel better, hmm? I haven't heard you sing, to be honest" she spoke. Jared looked over to her for a second, pondering her words, before giving her a smile. Jumping up from his seat he rushed to the stage, where Tigress watched as he briefly conversed with the proprietor about singing, before being handed the Ko Den Den Mushi, introduced to the bar as Jared.

"Alright, so here you have it – Our first song tonight, sung by Jared!" called the proprietor as he rushed off stage, Jared already smirking.

"_Yohohoho, Yohohoho,_

_Yohohoho, Yohohoho,_

_Yohohoho, Yohohoho,_

_Yohohoho, Yohohoho,_

_Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

_Following the sea breeze!_

_Riding on the waves!_

_Far across the salty depths!_

_The merry evening sun!_

_Painting circles in the sky!_

_As the Birds Sing_

_Farewell to the harbour,_

_To my old hometown_

_Lets all sing out with a Don!_

_As the ship sets sail_

_Waves of gold and silver_

_dissolve to salty spray_

_As we all set sail to_

_The ends of the sea_

_Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

_We are pirates_

_Sailing through the Sea!_

_The waves are our pillows_

_The ship our roost_

_Flying the proud Skull_

_On our flags and our sails_

_Now comes a storm _

_Through the far-off sky_

_Now the waves are dancing_

_Beat upon the drums_

_If you lose your nerve_

_This breath could be your last_

_But if you just hold on,_

_The morning sun will rise_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

_Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night!_

_Waving our goodbyes, _

_we'll never meet again!_

_But don't look so down;_

_For at night the moon will rise!_

_Going to deliver Bink's Sake!_

_Let's all sing it with a Don!_

_A song of the waves_

_Doesn't matter who you are,_

_Someday you'll just be bones_

_Never-Ending, Ever-wandering,_

_Our funny Travelling tale!_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,_

_Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho!"_

In a loud uproar the people cheered, applauding the kid's singing, earning a smile from the young Captain. Watching him smile like that brought a similar smile to the crew, each one of whom were glad he was finally out of his funk.

* * *

Outside the pub, meanwhile, a group of cloaked figures numbering five in total walked about the streets, nearing the pub. In the hands of the leader, a sheet of paper could be seen.

"Jared De Danser, bounty of 27,000,000 Beli – It is time someone showed you Justice!".

* * *

**Shinobi-Dono: Yeah… This isn't exactly the best chapter I've written, is it? A lot of it is taken up by the song, really. At least Jared seems to be happy again, so that's something to be glad about! But who could these mysterious figures be? Find out in the next chapter!**


	6. Trouble In The Streets!

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

Walking out of the pub, the Bebop Pirates found themselves chatting amongst themselves, most of them telling Jared that they loved the music, although the Sniper was busy dealing with Kain, who had walked out of the pub with his arms over the shoulders of two women, smirking as he bragged how great he was (Of course, part of the reason he kept his arms over their shoulders was because, with all the booze he had drunk, standing up had become a chore).

"It's been a while since we heard one of your songs, it was really great! Think you could sing them more often?" asked the first mate, a smile on her face. Jared nodded, smiling back. Music always made him relax a little, it was therapeutic, in a way. It brought out something in him not normally seen underneath his rather punk-like exterior. Walking with the band of pirates he called a crew, they took a turn into the main square, only for some sort of spotlight to suddenly be focused on them.

"What?" Kain asked, blinking.

"The hell-" Jared added, but was cut off as a second spotlight now switched on, illuminating and bringing everyone's focus to a spot at the top of a building ahead of them, where, to their shock, another band of people were to be seen, staring back down at them.

"Halt, villains! You shall trespass no further upon our beloved Yamino Land, the fortress that stands tall against pirate scum!" came a voice from the leader, overdramatic and strong, a proud yell at the top of his voice.

Looking up at the figures, the entire Bebop crew canted their heads to the side.

"Here and now, we shall put an end to you once and for all, for we are…" the leader spoke, pausing momentarily as the group of cloaked figures now pulled on their cloaks, pulling them off of them to reveal their true appearance – That of a band of five people – Two women and three men – wearing matching spandex uniforms of varying colours with similar helmets of matching colours.

The leader was clad in the red suit, a young man with a clean-shaven face, handsome featured and dark hair poking out from under his helmet, whilst to his right was one of the women, clad in purple with long, blonde hair flowing out behind her from the back of her helmet. The one on the far right beyond the purple-uniformed woman was a larger man in green, muscular and tall with stubble on his chin and strawberry-blonde hair. On the opposite side of the leader to the blonde woman was a slightly younger woman with short, brown hair in a blue suit, and finally on the far left was another lean man like the leader, only younger, with a child-like disposition, having wavy blonde hair and a yellow suit.

"THE KNIGHT-RISERS!!!" they chorused, complete with a sudden action pose, the leader of course taking his place at the top middle of the group, where he would be the centre of attention. If it weren't for him suddenly tripping and falling from his spot, down the side of the building, perhaps the pose would have looked more impressive.

"Big Bro!" the yellow-suited Knight-Riser called.

"Quick, we need to take a look at him!" exclaimed the purple-suited Knight-Riser as the group quickly headed back into the building, taking the stairs down to where their leader had fallen. All the while, the Bebop Crew had simultaneously sweatdropped.

"Those guys… Are they really serious?" Jared asked, only for a certain albino to pop in.

"Those guys are cool! Where can I get one of those suits?"

"Knock it off!" the others berated him, before returning their attention to the Knight-Risers, who had now reappeared before them, with their leader now bleeding from his forehead, although he seemed to be trying to ignore it.

"As I said, villains, your reign will come to an end! Starting with you, Jared de Danser! The criminal worth 27,000,000 Beli, you shall receive our-"

"Wait! Hold on a sec!" Jared exclaimed, interrupting the Knight-Riser. "What do you mean by '27,000,000 Beli'? Wasn't I 15,000,000 Beli?" he asked, only for the Knight-Riser to nod, before taking out the bounty poster and holding it up for him to see.

"That is correct… However! Your actions, as leader of the Bebop Pirates, led you to gain a bounty raise after the events of Orion Island, an island once thought to be impossible to escape from so long as Captain Jan Van Edgar was stationed there! Not to mention, your crew, too, has also received their own bounties" he told the crew, having his Knight-Riser team hold up the bounty posters.

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

**'****Flash-Draw Saiko'**

**17,000,000 Beli**

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

'**Kain The White Lance'**

**12,000,000 Beli**

**Wanted Dead or Alive**

'**Tigress The Striped Hunter'**

**37,000,000 Beli**

**Wanted Alive**

'**Gunslinger Wolf Roi'**

**100,000,000 Beli**

"Woah…" Saiko commented, her eyes wide at the revelation. "We've got bounties!" she exclaimed.

"Mine's good, but… Why the hell is Roi's so high?!" Kain asked aloud.

"Mine is more of a means to bring me back to Bliss Kingdom. What you should be asking is why Tigress' bounty is so unusually high…" the prince replied coolly, looking over his shoulder to the chef, who only smiled innocently in response.

"Do not be proud of yourselves, villains! This only proves that you must not be allowed to roam the world any more, and strike terror into the hearts of the good people!" Knight-Riser Red, the leader, called. Extending a finger towards the crew, he let out a bold cry. "Atta-GACK!" he yelled, failing to impress as halfway through he fell again, this time from blood loss – Trying to ignore his wounds hadn't been a good idea.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" the Bebops yelled, unimpressed with the annoyances so far – They really had much better things to be doing. However, as they prepared to move, the leader, now with a blood-clotting ointment applied to his wound and a look of vigour on his face, rose up, once more calling his battle-cry.

"Attack!" he yelled, the group quickly rushing the Bebops. Before either group could clash however, a sudden call rang out.

"Knight-Risers, I ask that you cease at once!" came an old, yet strong voice, and obediently the group stopped, quickly saluting the owner of the voice as the Bebops turned to look at him – A tall, aging man in his late fifties or early sixties, with greying hair and broad shoulders, clad in a colourful kimono, a pipe in one hand and the other resting in the front of his kimono, the hand poking out of the front. Nothing in particular stood out about this man beyond his surprising size for a man his age, although the colourful kimono helped him stand out. A smirk was painted on his face, his eyes watching the Bebops.

"Sir! We hadn't expected you to leave the house-"

"It is quite alright – these old bones may be aging, but even I am still capable of fighting criminals like these – I told you, didn't I? I will always look out for Yamino Land" he told the Knight-Risers, who each nodded in unison as he spoke, watching as the old man took small steps towards the Bebops.

"Who is this guy?" asked Kain, raising a brow. Suddenly caught by surprise, the albino was the first to feel his onslaught, a fist slamming into his gut as the old man suddenly took a dash and dealt him a body blow, the speed of his dash and the force of the blow catching him completely unawares and sending Kain crashing into a store behind him, the lovely ladies walking alongside him having rushed off now that he had been knocked aside.

"Kain!" Saiko and Jared yelled as they turned towards where he had crashed, although that in itself was a mistake as the old man suddenly moved again, this time behind the duo, taking Jared's head and throwing him forwards, slamming him into Saiko and sending both flying. In a quick move Roi pulled out his pistols and shot at the old man, but the guy seemed untouchable, racing off for a quick escape from the rain of bullets. By the time he ran out of ammunition, Tigress had jumped in to deal a strong butterfly kick, but her attack was read and the old man, raising an arm, grabbed her ankle and threw her into the Sniper, taking them down.

Brandishing a piece of wood broken off of a chair he crashed into, Kain had leapt towards the old man, only for the man to take him down with a strong, back-handed strike to the temple, flooring him. Likewise, with Saiko wielding her sword and Jared ready to fight back, the old man had quickly rounded on them, pushing in before Saiko could make a proper swing and shoving her aside with a shoulder barge, before pushing off of his front foot to change direction and charge towards Jared, dealing a strong right hook to his face, knocking him down.

'_Crap, this guy's strong! Just like..!'_ a sudden image of Jan Van Edgar crept into his mind, those fierce eyes and that deadly smirk taking up the space of his mind, and he found himself foolishly hesitating as the old man grabbed his head and slammed it into the pavement, before kicking his body, throwing it aside. Letting out a cry of pain he rolled before pushing himself up, onto his feet.

'_It's just like Jan Van Edgar, all over again!'_ he told himself, no longer seeing his opponent, but the Marine Captain he had fought not too long ago. Before he knew what had happened, a strong jab connected with his jaw, sending him falling down to the ground, crashing hard against the stone once more.

* * *

**Shinobi-Dono: Not the best I've written, I know, but… Well, it's been a while, and I had to post something, so I guess, even if it's a bit short, it'll satisfy you for a while until I get the next chapter out.**

**Anyways, read and review. I'll have the next chapter out soon.**


	7. Imprisoned!

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

Letting out a groan, the young pirate captain opened his eyes, only to see metal bars – Ah, correction, metal bars and stone walls. And if he wasn't mistaken, metal chains wrapped around his limbs, pinning him to a wall. How nice, whoever had caught him was nice enough to give him the classic living quarters of a strong young gentleman who happened to have had a brush with the wrong side of the law – In other words, they threw him in a jail cell. Great. After escaping from that last cell years ago, he had hoped to never return to one of these.

Sadly, fate seemed to like spitting in his face.

Not even bothering to fight his restraints, he looked around – All in all, there was the usual. A hard, uncomfortable bed, a bucket meant to serve as a chamber pot (Hence the unpleasant smell in the room), as well as a small, barred window to allow light in. Part of him wondered why such a small, tiny window needed to be barred, but he decided not to ask. Hearing a knock on the bars, his attention was brought to the front of the cell, where he could see the face of the old man he had encountered earlier – He had forgotten how he had been captured up until now. Given how long he spent in a jail cell, it was almost natural to wake up here. Unpleasant, but natural. Although, he had to say, he could swear he had seen Van Edgar fighting him a moment ago – Had he been mistaken?

"So you're awake, De Danser. What do you think of the living arrangements? I do hope they are to your liking" the old man spoke, a smirk on his face that made Jared want to punch him. Instead, he simply shot back with a comment of his own.

"Yeah, it's real grand" he started, the sarcasm clear in his voice. "Real classic. It's almost nostalgic".

"Good. You should be glad – This is where we keep our more dangerous villains. Your friends are in another tower, I'll have you know" the old man answered back.

"Oh? I guess you screwed up then – Two of my crew members have much higher bounties. I'd wager them to be more dangerous" Jared shot back, only to receive an amused smirk.

"I am not a fool, brat. From our fight, I could tell the Gunslinger Wolf was only a more tactical fighter – Beyond that, his fighting ability was low, and he is an unknown. People nobody has heard of do not get such high bounties, after all. I would assume there is more to him than meets the eye. As for the woman, I found that she was likewise not truly deserving of such a high bounty – She was captured instantly, after I knocked you out, of course. Since you were the Captain and had the highest bounty of the rest, I decided that therefore, you were the most dangerous. Of course, none of you posed a threat anyways" he told Jared, causing the youth to curse under his breath – He had been hoping to get in contact with his crew.

"Ah, I do believe I have yet to introduce myself – You met my subordinates earlier, the Knight-Risers. I am the Ruler of this Island, Lord Yasen. You won't be expected to remember it, of course – In three days time, you shall be executed-"

"Executed?!" Jared burst out in shock, eyes wide in disbelief as he looked towards the old yet incredibly strong-looking man before him. As though the surprise and fear in his eyes was something of gratification, the man simply smirked.

"Enjoy, I'll be seeing you later" Yasen told him, still smirking as he turned and walked away slowly, Jared's yells echoing down the hall after him, wanting to know, pleading to know if he really meant what he said, that in three days time he would die.

* * *

"This sucks! I feel like punching something!"

"Settle down, this could be far worse"

"Ooooh! I'm really riled up too!"

"Even Saiko…?"

The two less controllable of the crew, the Navigator and the First Mate, seemed to be ready to take on the old man yet again, despite the fact that they had been beaten quite quickly, simply eager for a rematch. Conversely, the more calm and collected of the group, the Sniper, was simply sitting on his bed, watching with annoyance at the duo's antics (They had suddenly begun taunting the gaoler, as though that would help).

His eyes briefly turned to the Cook, who had chosen to take a cat nap on one of the hard, uncomfortable prison beds, a content smile on her face as she simply lied there. Honestly, how could she sleep in such a place? Sighing, he looked back to the duo as the Gaoler began barking back at them in aggravation, looking as though ready to hit them were they not within the cell. Thoughts floated around in his head as he sat in the cell watching what happened before him – What should they do? What could they do? Such questions echoed in his head, but there was another question that floated around in his head, some sort of idea that made him frown, a thought that made him feel sick.

"Damn Gaoler! When I get out I'm gonna beat the crap outta him!" Kain announced, having finally stopped arguing with the Gaoler and letting him leave to go back to whatever he had been doing before. For a moment Roi's eyes rested on him, before finally he spoke.

"Something feels rotten on this 'Yamino Land'" he announced, grabbing the attention of the First Mate and Navigator.

"Of course it's rotten! I had met some really nice girls, and all of a sudden these circus freaks show up and-" Kain was interrupted in his rant quickly.

"That's not the point I'm trying to make!" the Sniper cut in, allowing Kain to go silent before he continued. "I think something foul is going on – It almost feels like everything that has happened so far in the Grand Line was planned, like we were _meant _to be caught".

"Say wha-"

"Wait, Kain, I think he has a point" this time Saiko interrupted the albino Navigator, looking towards Roi as she spoke. "We were attacked by that pirate crew and chased here, weren't we?" she asked, to which the sniper nodded.

"The fact that the land here is so flat and lacking in forests meant that there was practically nowhere to hide on this island, so when we were chased by that Pirate crew, the dome was the only place we could run to for cover. And it worked – Spectacularly. Yet in only a short while we were discovered" the prince explained, his brows furrowing in annoyance.

"Wait, hold on, you mean-?!"

"Yes – I don't know what it is, but there's some sort of connection between the pirates that came here and the ruler of this island. I'm not sure if that kid with the sword and the old man in charge are working together or if it's something completely different, but regardless, we have to agree that there's some sort of connection between them".

"In that case, how about we break out and do some information gathering? I'm sure we'll find something interesting" came Tigress' voice as she began to sit up on her bed, now gaining the attention of all present. Smiling at them she allowed her fingers to rap against the handcuffs on her wrists.

"I've got a few plans we could try out…"

* * *

"Kid! Oi, kid! What're ya doing down here?"

Standing guard in front of a large wooden door that sealed off the dungeon was a huge, muscular figure, powerful and rugged, tough and somewhat intimidating. He was a fishman, with blue skin like a shark's, a small fin on his upper-back near his neck bearing a white tip, and his fingers as well were white-tipped. His body bore no shirt, instead only a black jacket worn open to show his powerful abdominal muscles and chest. He was broad-shouldered, and his arms packed with likewise strong muscle. His legs were likewise strong, although not as great in size as his arms, making him look somewhat cartoonish in shape. Blue jeans covered his lower body, along with a pair of sandals that exposed his white-tipped toes. His nose was pointed, and his mouth bore a set of sharp teeth. His eyes were sharp, like a predator's, yet there was a… Friendliness to them, a lack of hostility in them. Looking down at the boy in front of him, he even seemed to smile.

"Well yeah, but… Lord Yasen wants me to tend to the prisoner's wounds, as well as keep an eye on him. He doesn't want the pirate to try something or die before his execution, or so he says…" the boy answered somewhat meekly, obviously unused to procedure within the Lord's home. His outfit was… Interesting, to say the least. He stood at about five foot tall, with a head of neat brown hair and a smiling face, wearing a pair of black trousers with black shoes, a grey, buttoned-up dress shirt and a comically large doctor's coat, far too big for the young kid to wear properly, leading it to drag along the ground behind him as he walked.

"Fahahahahah! He actually let you become one of his private doctors, Eliott?!" he asked, laughing as he took out a pair of rectangular-framed shades and put the on.

"O-Of course he did, Kazu-nii! A-And it's Doctor Knox now!" the kid spoke back in a failed attempt to look professional, only for the large, Whitetip Shark Fishman to grin.

"Alrigh', Alrigh', I'll take ya to the guy. What's his name, hm?" the Fishman asked as he took out a key, unlocking the large, wooden door.

"Jared Del Rey. He's a pirate from South Blue, or so I was told…"

"Oh? He only came in last night…" the Fishman spoke as the door opened, and he began to lead the young boy down the empty corridors of the dungeon. Somehow the emptiness, the darkness of the place inspired a sort of dread in Eliott, but the young boy knew that it was a prison anyway to begin with. Obviously many people had rotted away in here, although even with that fact in mind he still felt uneasy. And yet, he had to admit, with his older 'brother' beside him, he could at least keep himself at ease.

In quick time he found himself stopping before the cell of the man he was supposed to treat, hesitating as he looked at him – He was a teenager, a good bit older than himself, and had his arms held up over him by chains that hung from the wall. His body was covered in bruises, although his clothes looked fairly fine. His head hung low, although it begun to raise slightly upon noticing the company. And despite it being a criminal, Eliott couldn't help but notice that, as he looked into the guy's eyes, there was no hostility at all to be seen.

"I'll be waitin' back at my post – If somethin' happens, feel free ta shout!" the Fishman spoke as he handed the key to the cell to the young kid-doctor before walking off, leaving him to deal with the prisoner.

Needless to say, it all felt very, very weird.

* * *

**Shinobi-Dono: Yo! This'll be my last update in a while, since I'll be in Portugal for two weeks! But I promise you, I'll definitely come back with another chapter completed and ready to put up! And for those wondering, when Eliott referred to Kazu the Fishman as 'Kazu-nii', it was basically him calling Kazu his brother. Normally its 'Nii-san', of course, but Eliott doesn't bother with the '-san' suffix. **


	8. Breaking Out!

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

* * *

Looking down as the kid in the doctor outfit took out his equipment from a suitcase he kept with him, the Pirate Captain eyed him curiously, wondering what it was he was doing – And why a kid was a doctor. Chained up against a prison wall, he supposed he was one of this doctor's weirdest patients so far. Watching the kid, he noted the similarities – He wasn't exactly the most outspoken in his youth, and the short brown hair was similar (It even matched the style he had back then). Of course, he changed a lot when he met his father, but still, seeing someone similar to himself was interesting. It was probably what spurred him on to speak.

"Hey, kid, mind if I ask you a question…?" he asked aloud, looking down at the kid, who paused in his actions, looking up timidly towards him. But of course – he would be a little nervous. After all, to him, he was a criminal. A hardened criminal with several records of violence against him. Still, the kid was paying attention, so he continued anyways. "Why are you patching me up like this? I'm a dead man anyway – In three days I'll be executed. What point is there in fixing me up?" he asked, eyes focused on the young kid, who seemed to look down for a moment, not meeting his eyes.

"Um… Well… It's tradition. A criminal with a bounty higher than 20,000,000 Beli is brought before the people in a caged arena after they've been fixed up… To fight Lord Yasen's gladiators until they eventually die…" the kid answered nervously, obviously still scared stiff of the pirate.

"Tch, so he wants me to fight to the death at full power to prove how great he is? Geez, he really loves feeding his ego…" Jared muttered, only to notice the kid's eyes looking up at him, transfixed on him.

"It's not like that! Lord Yasen… He does it to prove that criminals cannot touch this island… To be honest, I've always thought his ways are a bit cruel… but Aniki is one of his hired bodyguard, too… And Lord Yasen is showing us how he protects us, proving to us that villains won't be able to harm us! He's cruel… But even though I'm a doctor, someone who treasures human life, I think Lord Yasen is doing good! After all, if he's gone, the pirates will come back… Just like ten years ago…" the kid answered, standing up to Jared.

"Heh… You're a good kid. What's your name?" Jared asked, smirking.

"E-Elliot Knox!" the young doctor answered hesitantly.

"Elliot huh? How about we make a deal – You're patching me up, even if it's for an execution, so how about I tell you a story, hmm? It's not like I can do much el-"

"Story! Story! Please, Mr. Del Rey, let me hear!" Elliot asked, eyes wide and smiling like a young boy. Laughing a little, Jared grinned.

"Alright! It starts a long time ago, with a young kid who was washed up on an island…"

* * *

"YOOOOOOSH!!!! OUTTA MY WAY!"

An unlucky guard was slammed into a wall as a strong fist crashed into the side of his face, the albino who owned the fist rushing past as soon as he was done and downing another guardsman. In a short brawl of fists and kicking, the small group watching over the jail cells was taken out, littered about the jail. With a smirk the albino looked towards the door, kicking it down with a strong push-kick.

"Heheh! Told ya I'd kick your ass, Gaoler!" he yelled, only to be smacked upside the head as his dark haired ally walked past, annoyed with his loud yelling.

"Quit fooling around, Kain. Our job isn't to fight yet, but to escape – Tigress will handle the rest" the former Prince spoke, not really amused with his ally's yelling at all.

"Ah, Ti-chan! To think, she was skilled in Lock-Picking too!" he spoke again as they ran ahead into the corridors, meeting a group of guardsmen who had heard the yelling, raising their Guan-Do spears and ready to fight back. Not even caring for the danger Kain leapt into the thick of it, taking on the first guard he saw and grabbing his Guan-Do, dealing a kick to his stomach before slamming the butt-end of his own weapon into his head, taking the spear for himself.

"Alright! I got a new spear – let's see if we can find a good sword for Saiko!" he yelled out, fighting off the crowd around him with his new weapon, twirling it about and slashing with the blade, managing to fell the lesser-skilled warriors in moments. Meanwhile his partner, Roi, was busy dealing with the others in hand-to-hand combat, taking advantage of their long weapon and sneaking his way past their guard with his speed and taking them down with precise strikes. For someone not exactly trained in fighting, his speed and manoeuvrability were remarkable. As soon as they had taken down the group the third member of their party showed up behind them, still wearing her prison clothes as they did, but having torn off the sleeves too. Her flowing black hair cascaded down behind her, and with a saber in hand, she was unmistakeably Kawakami Saiko, their First Mate.

"Geez, you guys didn't even wait for me to get a weapon! How rude!" she spoke in a joking manner, smirking as she caught up with them. Now altogether they rushed down the corridor, making their way to the nearest exit they could find.

"So, since Ti-chan's heading towards Jared's cell and we're escaping, think we should stop off at the armoury?" Kain asked, earning a nod from both Sniper and First Mate. Heading around a corner they continued, just heading in whatever direction they thought was right in order to find the armoury. After all, they could hardly escape without their weapons. But as they raced down the hallway, more of the guards had arrived, a strong formation blocking off the end of the corridor. With a smirk the two combat experts smirked.

"Looks like this isn't going to be so easy" Kain commented, smirking as he held the Guan-Do at the ready. Saiko agreed with a smile, holding her saber much like she would her katana.

"Let's give them something to remember us by" she spoke, before the two rushed ahead, smirking as they collided with the forces against them – It was going to be too easy at this rate.

* * *

"Lord Yasen! There's been a break-out!" a distressed call was made as one of the guards burst into the large room where Yasen sat in his chair, as though a king in his throne, in front of a desk where paper and pens could be seen – The Knight-Risers standing at the side of the room.

"What?! Have the villains Lord Yasen defeated already broken out? Surely this cannot be!" the leader of the Knight-Risers, the Red, exclaimed, shocked by the news. "We must take them down at once!".

"Hold it, Red" the old man spoke, a frown on his features as his brows furrowed. "What do you mean 'broke out'? Is the 'guard' label too difficult for a young man like yourself to understand?".

"N-No, Lord Yasen! It appears they have lost their handcuffs, so they must have unlocked them somehow!" the guard replied in fear of offending Yasen. Sighing irritably, the old man looked at him, eyes demanding respect.

"How are the guards holding up?".

"Well… The sword-girl and the man with the spear are doing the most damage, and the other, the 'Gunslinger Wolf', seems to be just following them and taking out the few that get near him" the guard answered back.

"So what happened to the other one then… Hmm? The one with the orange and black-striped hair?" Yasen asked, his anger showing.

"… The one with… Orange and black-striped… hair sir?"

If Yasen could explode with anger, he would have there and then.

* * *

"Aaaah!"

With the last guard falling from a slash across the chest, the three-man party relaxed, releasing the tension in their bodies. While not a scratch could be seen on the three, all of the guards had been taken down in the short brawl, despite the overwhelming numbers advantage they had. Walking along the stone floor, the three made their way forwards, continuing their escape. With the guards in the area defeated, they could at least take comfort in knowing they were not threatened by anything, as of yet.

"Man, I really need some booze… Hey, you guys wanna go back to the bar after we escape?"

"Be serious about this, white-haired cur! In case you haven't noticed, even if we escape, we'll still be at risk – There are pirates outside the dome, and inside the dome we are trapped! You can sate your alcoholism after we've escaped danger completely. Not to mention, we still need to get some more information…" Roi reprimanded, reminding him of the urgency of the situation. Though, he doubted Kain would ever really care enough to treat things seriously. It was what made him so annoying.

"Relax, if the problem is the guys fighting us, we just have to be even stronger, right?" Saiko asked, unwittingly triggering a response.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 'We just have to be even stronger?' Fools! As though you could ever be stronger!" a loud voice belted out, causing the three to stop in their tracks, eyes looking around speedily, in an attempt to find the speaker. It was only when the enemy dropped down from above, landing before them, did they realize just who it was – the Head Gaoler.

"None could possibly match Lord Yasen's strength, so quit trying!" he exclaimed loudly again as the three looked at him, readying their weapons. He was a giant of a man, standing three times larger than any ordinary man, with huge muscles, thick and strong, dense and heavy. Silver armour consisting of greaves, plating on his thighs and boots covered his lower-body, over a dark pair of trousers that looked ragged and torn. His upper body was mostly bare, save for a gauntlet on his left arm going up almost it's full length. His head was bald, although his chin was covered in stubble, while tattoos covered his chest and torso. A large axe was held up in his right hand, like a guillotine ready to decapitate the three.

"Oi oi oi! We're escaping here, so don't try and stop us!" Kain yelled back, only to be smacked over the head again by Roi.

"Fool, he has no intention of letting us go" he scolded him simply.

"Damn straight! I, the Head Gaoler Kanabo, will not let you pass! Turn back and get into your jail cells – otherwise, I may just end up killing you by mistake! Hahahahahaha!" the large man yelled in sadistic glee, a huge grin painted on his face. Raising the axe up, he let out another howl of laughter, eyes focused on the woman in front with the saber.

"**DYNAMIC SMA-**"

"**Battoujutsu: Hachiman Geki!**"

In a flash, dozens of wounds opened up on the gigantic man, blood shooting out quickly, his axe breaking apart into pieces. Letting out a yell, the man fell to the ground, blood splattering on the floor as Saiko, who now stood behind him after the attack, took a piece of cloth and wiped her saber clean of blood, looking back with a disinterested look.

"Sorry but… We have bigger problems to deal with" she spoke, before continuing on with the two behind her.

* * *

**Shinobi-Dono: Alright, alright, I get it. It's a bit late, but I ran into a bit of a block. Luckily for you guys, you didn't have to wait long! I hope you liked the chapter. I'm hoping I've gotten better since I started. Anyways, enough of that, I have nothing else to say, so read and review, and I'll get that next chapter done! **

**Oh, and as you may remember from my last fic, Saiko's "Battoujutsu: Hachiman Geki" is a high-speed multi-slash sword-drawing technique.**


	9. Standing in The Way

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

**

* * *

**

"Alright, that's enough for today. I'll see you tomorrow, Jared-san" the child-doctor spoke as he exited the jail, the door closing behind him as the large Fishman he called 'brother', Kazu, looked down at him and smiled.

"Yo, I'll be takin' ya home, ya hear? My shift's just 'bout done, so I'll walk ya home now" he told the kid, offering his rather large hand to the kid, who smiled as he took hold of it with his comparatively smaller hand. Leading the young kid, Kazu the Fishman walked down the corridors of the dungeon, intending to make his way back out the nearest exit and back to his home in the middle of Yamino Land, obviously unaware of the breakout that was in process (The Fishman never was too bright).

"Hey, Kazu-nii?" Elliot spoke up, earning the Fishman's attention.

"Yeah, kid?" Kazu asked, a brow raised.

"That Jared guy tells a lot of interesting stories for a pirate…"

"Oh? Do tell, kid…"

* * *

"**White Jouster!**"

With a loud exclamation of an attack, the white-haired spear-specialist tore through the crowd of guards ahead of him with one straightforward attack, powering his way through. Any who weren't defeated by his own move were taken down by the First Mate, Saiko, as she moved in and out of them, taking them down with the flat end of her blade. Roi, lacking the same penchant for close combat they did, simply followed behind, only attacking those who did get anywhere near him.

"Which way should we go? The armory could be anywhere around here…" Saiko commented, only for Roi to remain silent, cursing the fact that none of them knew the layout of the castle Lord Yasen lived in.

"Hey! This way! I bet it's here!" called the young, white-haired spearman, smiling wide as he pointed them down the left as they came up to a fork.

"What makes you so sure? Even a Navigator is lost in a new place…" Roi commented, only to follow with Saiko anyway, as they lacked any better sense of direction down here. As they raced down however, they came to a stop outside of one of the doors as Kain stopped, staring at a door with a grin.

"Five-Hundred Beli says this is the armory!" he exclaimed, only for Roi to smack his forehead in frustration.

"Will you be serious? I highly dou-" the royal was cut off however as Kain sliced down the door with his Guan Do, breaking into the large room where, believe it or not, the many weapons and sets of armour belonging to the castle were to be found, along with treasures they had picked up here and there. In other words, the armoury.

"You highly doubt… What?" Kain asked cockily. Roi simply stared.

"Yay! My sword!" exclaimed Saiko, ignoring the surprise on Roi's face.

* * *

"Dammit! Didn't that Kazu guy hear? The guards are supposed to be dealing with the escaping pirates!" one of the guardsmen said as he stood in front of the door to the jail Kazu had been stationed at, a second guard nodding.

"Yasen-sama also knew they would be after their Captain, Jared de Danser, so he assigned us to watch over him with his help. But now he's gone…" the second one responded.

"Relax, it's just three people! And one of them isn't a fighter, either! We don't need a Fishman to take them on!" the first one snapped back.

"Actually, it's four" a feminine voice corrected them.

"What the-"

As the guards attempted to figure out who spoke, a woman with orange and black-striped hair dropped down, taking both out with a kick to their head using both legs. With surprising power she knocked both out, sending both slamming into the wall behind them as she picked up the keys they held, smirking to herself.

"Thanks for welcoming me to your home, Lord Yasen – I was able to figure out the layout of your 'castle' during my escape. In the meantime…" she spoke, smirking as she looked towards the door. With a strong punch she smashed down the door, breaking it off of it's hinges in one shot, earning a look of surprise from the figure hanging up on the wall in chains.

"T-Tigress! What are you –" Jared spoke, only to be interrupted.

"I've come to break you out, Captain! Just follow me…" she answered him in mid-sentence, smirking to herself.

* * *

With his set of pistols back in his possession, Roi felt more comfortable. Now joining the duo, he covered them from behind, sniping off the ones that escaped their own attacks. Hearing more voices from outside told them that they were definitely nearing the exit, as though the change in scenery from stone castle walls to what he could have mistaken for a leisurely mansion wasn't enough to confirm that. The guards they were encountering were fewer in number, most likely because they had expected them to go after Jared – Instead, that was left to Tigress, who had managed to prove herself surprisingly stealthy.

"We're almost there! I can see the front door!" Kain spoke as they entered the foyer, rushing ahead towards the wide double-doors. Holding up his spear, in conjunction with Saiko and her katana, the two sliced down the door, breaking through with Roi following behind. Coming outside, they found themselves in a stone courtyard, the dark dome above them and stone walls surrounding them, a large, metal gate ahead. A group of at least thirty guards ahead of them in a rectangular formation blocked their path.

"These guys just don't know when to quit, do they?" Kain asked aloud, holding his spear up.

"Should I take them or you?" Saiko asked, raising a brow.

"Lets make a game of it – See who takes down the most!" Kain replied with a grin as she did likewise, sheathing her blade and entering a Battoujutsu stance.

"Just remember – As soon as we bypass the gate, we find a place to hide, got it?" Roi spoke, to which the two nodded.

"**Battoujutsu: Hachiman Geki!**"

"**White Jouster!**"

As the guards charged the two warriors, a powerful force came to meet them – Drawing her blade, the Samurai girl unleashed upon them a barrage of swordplay, slicing them down with a great number cuts. At the same moment, Kain had charged forwards with his spear, taking out all those who stood in his path as he thrust the blade-tip forwards. In that moment the men fell, defeated by the two warriors.

"Looks like I won, Kain-san!" spoke the young woman cheerfully.

"Only this time – Next time I'll be the winner" he replied, smirking. Following after Roi as he ran ahead of them, the two ran towards the gate, ready to climb over it and escape into the city.

* * *

"Tigress!" yelled the young pirate Captain as he followed behind the woman, his chains gone and his prison shirt disposed of, leaving his chest bare, showing off his sun tattoo. As usual he went barefoot, feeling the coldness of the stone floor beneath him. "Are you sure this is the right way?" he asked, only to receive a thumb's up in response.

"I'm positive! And when we get out, we'll go and find the others, and then we'll make a plan, got it?" she told him, earning a nod. With a smile she turned ahead, the two coming to the end of the corridor where a door leading to the stairs was to be found. Heading on through they raced upwards, towards the ground floor. By the time they reached the top of the staircase however, the two found themselves suddenly coming to a stop, an intimidating presence standing between them and the door ahead that lead to the foyer. It was the old man in his kimono, the gray-haired fighter who had defeated them – Lord Yasen.

"Oi oi… You brats… Tricking me by sending the others on ahead and letting the last go and rescue the Captain themselves… Who the hell do you think you are?!" he yelled in a rage, pushing his large, muscular arms out the front of his kimono and letting the upper-half of the kimono fall over the sash at his middle, leaving his own body bare to the world. Despite his age the man was a titan, a muscular warrior greater and stronger-looking than most young men. A hot-blooded anger took over his features, his face twisted into rage.

"I am the Lord of Yamino Land! Yasen! Insulting me is a crime punishable by death!" he yelled as he raced forwards, causing Jared to rush forwards to meet him, bringing a leg up to kick away his opponent's fist as he threw a punch. For a split second he turned to Tigress, barking out a simple order.

"Run! I'll follow!"

Despite admittedly wanting to help out, Tigress obliged to his wishes, rushing past the two and escaping through the doorway behind Yasen, where hopefully she would be able to reunite with the others.

"You won't be following anyone but the reaper himself, brat!" yelled Yasen, bringing Jared's focus back to the old man as he slammed his fist into Jared's cheek, knocking him down to the ground and almost falling down the stairs with a single punch. Rolling on his back he returned back to his feet, but only in time to watch as the old man leapt towards him, hands held together over his head.

"**Light's out!**" the old man yelled as he swung down, smashing his combined hands into Jared's head, sending his face crashing into the ground in a single move.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Well, how about that? The crew has escaped and Tigress freed Jared! But with Yasen standing between Jared and freedom, it looks pretty bleak. Oh! And we got some new moves this time. So here's the explanations:**

**White Jouster – A fairly straightforward move, Kain rushes ahead, putting all his power behind his spear and attacking with a joust. Useful for dealing massive damage on an enemy or just taking out cannon fodder.**

**Light's Out! – A move similar to the double axe handle in wrestling, Yasen brings his hands together and slams them into his foe's head.**

**So, until next time, please, read and review! You know you want to!**


	10. The Smackdown!

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

**

* * *

**

Rolling a couple of steps down the staircase, Jared was only barely able to recover his balance on the downward slope, but even as he recovered he had no time to act as his foe, the old yet powerful man named Yasen, managed to catch his neck in a choke-hold with one hand, keeping a tight grip on his throat with his outstretched arm before pulling him closer by the neck, simultaneously lifting Jared's body into the air. With great force he slammed him back down, Jared's back crashing into the jagged steps of the staircase, forcing him to release a cry of pain. Raising a leg the old man stomped on his chest, only to be knocked forwards over Jared as Jared landed a kick on his backside, slipping out under him and returning to his feet as his foe likewise recovered, both ready to keep fighting.

"**Country Chapa de Frente!**" Jared yelled as he dealt out a straight kick, twisting his hips to increase the range as the vibrating leg slammed into his foe's chest, knocking him back up the stairs. Leaping up after the older man he let out a yell, bringing his legs up and aiming to land a drop-kick on his foe. "**Progressive Voo-de-Morcego!!**" Jared yelled again, only for his move to ultimately miss as his foe circled around him, wrapping his own, strong arms around Jared's waist, catching him before he could fall.

"**Deep Sleep Suplex!**" the old man roared as he lifted his foe, bending over backwards and slamming his foe head-first into the ground. Releasing Jared he rolled over and got up to his feet, watching as Jared struggled to get back up to his own. Not allowing him the time he rushed him, slamming into him with his shoulder. As he crashed into Jared he sent the youth falling back down the stairs again, prompting him to race after, not intending to let him go free – No, the rage on his face only proved he wanted to break him. Managing to roll onto his feet Jared launched a desperation move, bringing up his leg to land a vibrated snap-kick that could only be **Metal Ponteira**. However, as his foe managed to catch the leg in his arm, his eyes widened in fear.

'_No matter what I do… No matter what I try, he keeps coming! He's not stopping! He's… He's worse than a demon!' _Jared told himself in his thoughts, shaken and frightened. In his hesitation the old man managed to wrap his other arm around Jared's other leg, picking him up off his feet, the descent seemingly taking forever as they dropped down. _'I can't fight him… I can't stop him… I can't even run away! This man… Jan Van Edgar!'_.

Indeed, as they descended, Jared saw not the image of Yasen in front of him, but the one Marine Captain who he couldn't even injure, who he couldn't defeat even if he had a thousand lives – Jan Van Edgar. The image of those piercing, deadly eyes, that wide, sadistic grin pierced his very soul and shook him to the core as he fell.

"**Nightmare-Buster!**" Yasen roared as he slammed his foe down back-first, smashing him into the ground. A powerful shockwave emanated from the point of impact, a small crater broken into the ground, Jared himself left lying in the center, his mouth open as he let out a gasp, his eyes shutting a moment later. Rising from the floor Yasen stood over him, his expression one of irritation, his rage slowly dying down as he looked at his beaten foe.

"Tch, I had been planning to put you through the battles in the coliseum, but… It looks like you won't be attending…" he muttered, walking away slowly, only to pause as a door opened before shutting again, footsteps sounding as a figure descended down the stairs.

"Lord Yasen-sama!" the figure called, a man dressed in a red spandex suit who could only be Knight-Riser Red, the leader of the Knight-Risers. Descending down, he gave the old man a bow before rising, moving to the body of Jared. "I am afraid there has been no sighting of the Bebop Pirates, yet. Should I… Should I move the Captain's body?" he asked, raising a brow behind the visor of his helmet. Turning around, the old man looked at him with an absence of care.

"Do as you like – He's still alive, if only barely. I'll be in my quarters" he muttered, walking back up the stairs the Knight-Riser leader had come down, heading back towards his room. Lifting up Jared's body, Red heaved him over his shoulder, carrying him back to the cell where he had escaped from.

"I apologize, Jared de Danser – But Lord Yasen-sama has zero tolerance for villains such as yourself" he whispered as he carried the body down, exiting through the door to the dungeons.

* * *

Pulling his kimono top back over his body, pushing his arms through the sleeves before closing over the front to hide his muscular frame, the old Lord frowned as he opened the door to his room, entering the chamber before closing over the door behind him. Walking behind his desk at a quick pace he picked up the receiver on the Den Den Mushi snail on his desk, punching in a number quickly before waiting a moment for the Den Den Mushi to ring. Quickly he received an answer.

"You rang, Yasen?" a cool, calm voice spoke, lacking in feeling.

"The Bebop Pirates have escaped the cells. So long as we have their Captain, they won't be leaving, but I need you guys to enter the dome and deal with them" he told the voice on the line, earning a brief pause.

"… So it has come to this, then?" the voice asked. "Very well then – We'll return to Yamino Land tonight and hunt down the Bebop Crew". The words were so simple, but they brought a wide smirk to the face of the old man, a glimmer of malicious intent clear in his eyes.

"I knew I could count on you… Night".

* * *

In the middle of the city, illuminated by paper lanterns, the streets were easy to follow, and people found themselves easily able to get around. Rare was it that the paper lanterns were put out, due to the darkness of the dome, but there were a few small back streets that were left not illuminated by the light. Deep in the middle of these backstreets, a trio of people were to be found, huddled together in the thick darkness that blanketed them. All around they could hear people talking about it – a group of three escaped criminals having stolen from a nearby shop. For a short while they stayed hidden, but as the heat began to die down they exited the backstreets, entering the light, where, fully illuminated, the three were not suited up in proper clothing, and not the black-and-white prisoner's clothes they had been wearing previously.

From the right, the three began with a tall, white-haired man, an albino with a large smile on his face and a Guan Do in his hands, used much like a cane for walking. His clothes consisted solely of a pair of blue, three-quarter length slacks, along with a silver bracelet on his arm and a green bandana worn on his head, pushing down his messy, white hair.

In the center was a woman, whose clothes consisted of a pink kimono, large and billowing behind her as she walked, almost too big for her, with a crimson sash wrapped around her waist and abdomen, holding it together at the front. The sleeves were wide and open, to the point that it exposed her forearms by sliding down them as she raised them, hanging from her elbows. Her hakama were white, and likewise were baggy and flowing in the wind. A pair of wooden sandals, geta, were worn on her feet, clacking as she walked, and in her hands she held a katana in a scabbard. Her dark, black hair was worn up in a French twist.

The last was another male, roughly the same height as the albino, only his hair was jet black, combed back but with a few loose strands hanging over his face, and his face angular and features pointed. His clothing consisted of a pair of black, form-fitting pants, belted at the waist with a set of fur leggings on his shins, with dark, polished shoes on his feet. His upper body was clad in a white, double-breasted vest, with a dark brown longcoat, worn open at the front, overall giving him a look resembling that of a gunslinger. The dual pistols in a pair of holsters at his sides completed the look.

"You look hilarious, Roi!".

"Shut it, white-haired cur. I have little patience for you now".

"I think you both look pretty cool!".

Wandering around in the crowd, the three were practically invisible around the town, despite their appearance in a shop moments before. While they had retreated to a safe distance from the castle they had been imprisoned in, they had remained close regardless, so that Tigress would not have to look far to find them when she returned with Jared. Then maybe they could leave and try to get off this island they had grown so tired of so quickly – Saiko, while wearing her cheerful smile, was sick of this island deep down. Running around, she was sick of all the people chasing them. The only consolation was knowing that soon Jared would be out and everything would be alright.

"Did you hear? Lord Yasen is going to be issuing an emergency warning to the city!"

The voice of a gossiper captured her attention, and evidently Roi's too. Kain was too busy checking out another woman's curves. Listening in, the two hoped to learn more from them.

"Oh, yeah! Everyone's heard! A couple of minutes ago the emergency bell was rung!" commented another gossiper in response, and as they walked on, continuing to talk, the three stopped in their tracks, Roi and Saiko turning to each other.

"What do you think of it?" the noble spoke, an eyebrow raised. A look of uncertainty was evident on the samurai girl's face.

"It could be bad. If they alert everyone, everyone will be looking around for us…" she muttered in reply.

"I'm afraid it's even worse…" came another voice, and suddenly Kain turned from his sights, smiling wide as he opened his arms.

"Ti-chan~! You're-" he froze suddenly, looking at her – she had apparently stolen a set of clothes to wear like they had, wearing a pair of black tights, with orange socks and dark shoes, with an orange tube top. Her hair, still a mix of orange and black stripes, was tied back into a ponytail. But what stood out most was the lack of another person with her.

"Tigress! Where's-"

"**Citizens of Yamino Land!**" a loud voice bellowed, causing the three to turn their heads towards the castle, a large balcony out at the front, big enough to be noticed even at the distance they were from the castle. From the balcony spoke the loud voice, owned by none other than Lord Yasen himself, who stood smirking.

"**As you are aware, the Knight-Risers recently caught the Bebop Pirates as they wandered our very streets, malicious intent evident! However, despite our attempts, these Pirates, of the most cruel and cunning, were able to escape our prison with the aide of their comrades! But we tell you not to panic – Bounty Posters across town have their pictures, making it painfully clear for them to be identified! With your help, we can stop them! But we have even better news still, I assure you!**" he spoke to the crowd, capturing their attention with ease. The crowd watched with awe, Saiko, Roi and Kain included.

"**In two days, we shall hold a public execution for their leader, the Captain of the Bebop Pirates who goes by the name 'de Danser', Jared Del Rey!**" he exclaimed, putting the crowd in an uproar as the Bebop Pirates looked amongst themselves in silence, not a word said, though with their eyes they conveyed a full message.

They feared for Jared's life.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! How'd you like the new chapter? I guess it's time to admit it now, isn't it? I suppose I have no choice – I based Lord Yasen on Lord Housen from Gintama. They're both incredibly strong, old men, and both rule a city in eternal night. They're both also ill-tempered. But don't worry, that's the last of the villains based on other villains… Or is it? Gah. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll put another one out same time next week so until then, read and review!**

**Attack Index:**

**Deep-Sleep Suplex: A German Suplex with incredible power behind it, lifting the foe up and slamming them backwards, head-first into the ground.**

**Nightmare-Buster: A running Spine-buster, lifting up the foe by the legs and slamming them back-first into the ground. **


	11. The Blues

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

Walking through the streets, trying to avoid the countless people that roamed them, the Bebop Pirates were at a new low – On the first island of the Grand Line they had encountered a danger that was far greater than anything they had experienced – Whether it was the attempted coup in Saiko's homeland or the escape from Bliss Kingdom with Roi, they had always pulled through. Even on Orion, where their Captain had been defeated by Van Edgar, they had managed to pull through with no problems. But now? Everything they had done was leading, just as planned, to the worst outcome.

First they had been chased by those pirates, only to then escape to the inside of the dome. From there they had been hunted down by Lord Yasen and put in his cell. They had succeeded in escaping, but in the process they had lost the most important member of their group – their Captain, Jared. And now he was to be executed in two days time, until then guarded no doubt by the highest powers, with the inhabitants of the island all searching for the Bebop crew. Yes, they had definitely sunk to a new low in this dome of darkness.

"You guys wanna get a drink?" Kain offered, raising a brow, but Tigress, Roi and Saiko each shook their heads. Not bothering to go by himself he simply continued to walk alongside them, frowning to himself.

"This sucks" Tigress commented, her usual smile gone, replaced by a melancholy that looked unnatural on her face.

Roi offered no comments, remaining silent with a neutral expression on his face, although his eyes seemed to convey the full message of his feelings – a similar darkness that loomed over the rest.

"Come on guys, lets get some rest, okay? We'll think about it later-" before Saiko could even finish her comment Kain had grabbed her by the kimono she wore, pulling her up to him for them to speak face-to-face.

"'Get some rest'?! Jared's going to be executed! Am I the only one-" he stopped however as he looked at Saiko's face, noticing that her smile was absent, gone. The ever-cheerful expression had disappeared, and it disturbed him.

"Besides…" spoke Roi at last, his eyes wandering towards Kain. "You were the one who asked for a drink, cur" he told him bitterly, pointing out his own fault. As Kain quickly rounded on Roi, the two entering a sort of glaring contest between them that was half-hearted at best, while Tigress watched, frowning to herself. Out of all of them she had felt the most sorrow, knowing that she had left Jared just because of an order, hoping he would defeat Yasen and escape. But in the end that had never happened – Jared was defeated the first time by him, and he was defeated the second time as well. Sighing she looked over to Saiko, who wore a serious, stern look on her face, as if fighting an inner turmoil. She was evidently doing just as well as she, which wasn't well at all.

"Come on" Saiko spoke again, catching the attention of the rest of them. "We need to stay somewhere for the night, and figure out what we're going to do" she told them all, and with little else to do all of them agreed, before following as she walked ahead with them.

* * *

In the night, the silver crescent moon shone down upon the island of Yamino Land, bathing the flat land and the black dome in an eerie light, the ocean waves reflecting the light back at the island. In the dead of night a lone ship, but a few minutes off from the shore, was heading towards the island, black sails flying in the wind and a Jolly Roger waving proudly atop it's main mast – A skull surrounded by a silver crescent-moon. A symbol of the infamous Silver Crescent Pirates.

"Captain Night! We are about to land!" a voice spoke, a tall figure with a lean frame, wearing only a pair of black shorts with a pair of dark boots, and a black, feathery mantle on his shoulders. Although, what stood out most was a raven-esque mask he wore that obscured his face, making him resemble a luchador wrestler or something to that effect. The man he addressed as Captain Night was a young man in his late teens, slightly shorter than the tall, masked man and with a head of dark hair and blonde highlights, wearing a dark shirt with his Jolly Roger on it and a sword at his side. He nodded knowingly from where he stood at the front of his ship.

"Then what're th' orders, Cap'n Night?" another voice spoke – a man clad in a form-fitting, zipped-up black top with orange arm-warmers, a pair of silver, baggy trousers and dark sneakers, with strawberry-blonde hair that was long enough that his fringe obscured his eyes from view.

"I want you to stay just outside the dome while I meet with Yasen – when I give the signal, you may enter, and we can put an end to the pirate crew that troubles him so…" he spoke in a monotonous tone, lacking a hint of emotion in his voice. It was cold, unfeeling. It was the voice of a real killer.

* * *

"We're lost, aren't we?"

The simple words uttered by the Navigator of the crew, of all people, added a sense of defeat to the already melancholic pirates, who in unison had sighed at the comment. They had gone around looking for a place to rest themselves, think and perhaps plan a way to save Jared, but alas it was not so, as the group failed to find a place where they could stay, and in the streets they would be easy picking for anyone who dared chase after them (Although the Knight-Risers, in their opinion, were highly incompetent).

"Great, we're lost, and we don't have a place to stay. Could we be in a worse situation?" Roi spoke, frowning as he did so. Little did he realize that it did.

"Hey! Hey! You guys!"

All four froze as another voice spoke, an unfamiliar one at that. Someone had recognized them. They were going to get chased around the town. They were on the run. They each cursed silently. Well, except for Kain, who swore loudly, although he had accidentally stubbed his toe on the corner leg of a food stand when he tensed up at the words. Slowly all four turned around, only to see a towering, muscular figure clad in blue jeans and a black jacket with a pair of stylish, dark shades. He had blue skin, with white at the fingers and thumbs, and Kain bet his toes were probably the same. And his hair, short and slightly scruffy, was a white colour as well, which, again, Kain noted (He was also slightly envious that it was neater still than his, despite it's scruffiness). A large smile was painted on his face as he looked at them.

Beside him, or rather, hiding behind him, was a small kid with a humorously oversized doctor's coat on, a head of neat brown hair and innocent eyes that looked a little nervous in the presence of these strangers. Were it not the wrong time, Saiko probably would have commented on how adorable he was, and Tigress probably would have teased him about it. But of course, this was not the time.

"You're entertainers, aren't ya? I can tell – all of yer outfits look pretty colourful! I ain't seen anybody around Yamino Land who looked like you guys unless they were entertainers!" he spoke proudly without a hint of sarcasm – the collective Bebop Pirates felt like smacking their foreheads at the brainlessness of the man, but Tigress took her chance quickly.

"Oh yes, we are! The best of performers from St. Poplar! We like to call ourselves 'Siren Song'! We're singers, you see – Well, Kain there is a mean drummer, and Saiko likes to play the mandolin as well…" Tigress spoke, quickly establishing a new identity for the group like a trained con man. It was incredible to watch, and both the Fishman and the kid fell for it completely.

"A-Awesome!" the little kid spoke, before shying away behind the Fishman, who in the meantime grinned widely.

"Think we could hear you guys sing? I love music!" he spoke, earning a sneaky grin from Tigress.

"Oh? Well, we would, but… Think you could bring us to a place we could stay for the night?" she asked, and quickly the other three realized what her plan was – To trick this unsuspecting fool into getting them a place to stay for the night.

"Sure! You guys can stay at my place – It has plenty of space!" he spoke with a grin, exactly like an unsuspecting idiot. Tigress' plan worked perfectly.

* * *

In a few short minutes, the front door to a decent-sized house opened, and in walked a collection of people consisting of the Bebop pirates and the Fishman they had tricked, along with his young friend. Entering the house the young kid threw his white doctor's coat onto a hanger, before walking down the corridor into a door that led to the kitchen. The Fishman meanwhile looked back at the guests, smirking.

"Well, the guest bedroom's upstairs, though one o' ya may have ta sleep on th' couch. There's also another bed in th' attic, though it might be a little bit spooky up there!" he joked a little, earning a brief chuckle from the group. The large Fishman grinned again, exposing his sharp teeth as he walked down the corridor with the group. "I'm about ta have dinner, so if ya want ya'll can join me an' my little buddy Knoxie" he spoke, chuckling at his pet name for the young kid. Walking into the kitchen, he left the group to stand around in the corridor, at which point they looked at each other.

"Well? He seems nice. And he doesn't realize who we are…" Saiko commented.

"How are we so certain he isn't just putting on an act?" Roi asked aloud, raising a brow.

"I like him! He looks like a cool guy!" Kain spoke, although Roi simply shook his head.

"That's often the point of deception…" Roi commented, initiating another glaring contest between the two, although contrasting earlier there was no hint of half-heartedness in the obvious dislike. Saiko chuckled again, finding the sight hilarious at this point. Tigress meanwhile sighed.

"And after I worked so hard to get us a place? You can sleep with a pistol if you want, Roi, I'm definitely not sleeping outside on the ground" Tigress told him plain and simple, before walking up the stairs located at one end of the corridors. "If you need me I'll be in my bed! You can talk about our situation later if you want…" she told the rest as Kain decided to head off to the dining room for food along with Roi and Saiko, the group agreeing to make the most of tonight…

* * *

Two hours had passed since the group had arrived at the house, by which point the young kid, Elliot Knox, had gone off to his bed and fallen asleep. Tigress, having never left her room, was assumed to have done likewise, which had been confirmed by Saiko when she walked up and decided to go to bed. In a silent vow they had agreed to sleep early tonight, a bit worn out after today's events. Kain had done likewise, deciding to sleep on the couch in the living room, while Roi headed up to the attic to sleep, undeterred by Kazu the Fishman's jokes about the attic being haunted.

But what none had known was that they had been wrong about Tigress, who had not fallen asleep at all. Waiting for at least an hour after the entire group had fallen asleep, the young woman got up, escaping out the window before shutting it before her sleeping friend could notice. Walking along the rooftops of buildings she looked back at the house for a moment, before looking ahead, towards the direction that she knew to be the exit to the huge dome.

"I may have failed you Jared, but I assure you – I will do my part. I am not needed on the front lines, so I shall leave it to the others…" she spoke, before leaping off into the night.

* * *

**Shinobi-Dono: Yo! Well, that's the latest chapter for ya. I hope you enjoyed it! To be honest, I don't think a lot happens, although at least we get to see the Silver Crescent Pirates and Captain Night again, right? Well, get used to seeing them, because they'll be showing up a lot more from now on!**

**And what could Tigress be up to? Well, we may not see next chapter, but I assure you, we'll see soon enough, kukuku...**

**Until next time, read and review!**


	12. The Silver Crescent Pirates

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece**

**

* * *

**

"Zzzzzzzzz…" the snoring of a certain white-haired male echoed throughout the house as he laid spread out on the couch with the sheet he had been given fallen to the floor. In his subconscious state he had failed to notice the rushing of people around the house, their worried actions and the reason why they acted like so. However, when they realized he was asleep, they had decided to rectify that immediately.

"Wake-up Punch!"

"OWAAAAAAAAH!"

Having just been punched in the liver by an incredibly strong Fishman the white-haired man fell off the couch, landing on the ground with his hand clutching his mid-section as he felt the pain, looking up to the cheerful yet obviously guilty Fishman with the strong physique and scruffy white hair.

"It's about time you woke up, cur" a voice from behind the Fishman spoke that was both serious and stern, and Kain needn't ask who it was to know his identity.

"Oh? Just wait 'till I get my spear, Crownie!" he spoke back as he stood up, only for the Fishman to hold out his hand as if to stay stop.

"Relax, Kain! I had to get ya up since th' rest o' your friends 're worried!" the Fishman spoke, and Kain suddenly stopped. Worried? Worried about what? Had Jared's execution date been pushed forwards or something.

"Ti-chan's disappeared!" Saiko exclaimed, and suddenly Kain reacted with shock, his jaw dropping.

"Wha? Ti-chan's disappeared?!" he asked, only for the noble Roi to let out a brief snort.

"So the cur has hearing…" he muttered, although despite Kain's usual attitude he didn't pay attention to the remark, too shocked by this event.

"What're we going to do? Without her, Jared- I mean we won't be able to play for our good friend Kazu!" Kain spoke, almost letting out the secret. Luckily Kazu hadn't noticed, although the sudden realization that they wouldn't be able to sing made his jaw drop at the sudden realization.

"Oh snap! I forgot ya said you'd play for me an' Knoxie!" he spoke. Speaking of whom the young doctor entered the room in his oversized white doctor's coat, looking up at the group.

"Kazu-Nii, I know it's your day off, but… Could you walk me to Y-Yasen-sama's place?" he asked, but to his dismay the Fishman turned and shook his head.

"Sorry, Knoxie – We 'ave to find Tigress firs'! She went missin' last night, and her friend's 're worried!" he explained, and suddenly the kid's eyes went wide.

"Tigress went missing?! Wh-What?! I'll come with you guys, she might be hurt if she was kidnapped and –" despite the kid's pleas, the Fishman shook his head.

"She'll be okay if we rush 'er to your place once we find 'er! Just stay safe with Yasen-sama, got it?" Kazu asked, only for the young kid to nod before rushing out the door, heading towards Yasen's Palace.

"Come on, we have to go – If we want to find her, we should be as quick as possible" Saiko commented, and all agreed.

* * *

"Aaaargh! Shit, my chest…" the old man known as Yasen sat in his private study, clutching his desk with one hand while the other clutched his chest as he sat on the edge of his seat. His breathing was deep, and he felt sweat drip down his brow as he sat there. The windows he normally kept open were closed, with the curtains drawn. His books were all left neatly in the bookshelves at either side of his room, and the paperwork on his desk was left uncharacteristically untouched, his vat of ink still left closed.

"Is there a problem, Yasen…?" a cool, stoic voice drawled as the owner regarded him with a somewhat interested look, although with the lack of expression on his face it was difficult to tell. The man wore dark hair with bangs framing his face and a fringe that hung down over his forehead, with a black shirt depicting his Jolly Roger on the chest that consisted of a skull with a crescent moon and a sheathed blade held in one hand. The old man looked up at him with a frown, as though not appreciating the way he spoke. Gritting his teeth he spoke.

"That Jared kid kicked harder than I thought… before his kick did nothing, but this time it managed to injure me to this extent! Like his kick had cracked my ribs when he hit me in the chest!" he spoke aloud in anger, obviously bitter at the thought of being injured by someone he had beaten so easily _twice._

"You are getting old for this, Yasen… Perhaps your body simply isn't as strong as it used to be?" the stoic spoke, but he only received a glare in return from the man he had been called to meet.

"Shut it, Night" Yasen responded, bitterness evident in his voice. "Do you mean to say I am growing _weak?_ Who was it that even in his old age, saved you from the harsh life being oppressed on Namakura Island and gave you a blade to cut down your enemies? Who was it who, with his own bare hands and nothing more, constructed this giant dome all by himself?! Are you saying I am growing _weak?!_" he yelled back in rage, rising up and grabbing the stoic's neck tightly. Night remained silent and calm however, a non-discernable expression on his face as he stared back into the eyes of Yasen.

"… No, I am not" he finally answered, and Yasen stared into his eyes for a few more moments before pulling his hand back and sitting down in his seat, staring at Night still.

"I have a job for you guys, the Knight-Riser's won't be able to handle them themselves – I want you to take down the Bebop Pirates and anyone who helps them! I want their ship destroyed so that they are left to run around this island until they are consumed by the darkness! I want you to _kill!_" he spoke with a thundering voice, his desire to kill all to present in his eyes. With an acknowledging nod Night accepted the task.

"I shall take Crow and Albtraum with me. The rest shall take care of their ship. Do you have any other orders, Yasen…?" he spoke, a hint of curiosity in his voice. For a moment, as though pondering the question, he considered the question, wondering if there was anything else he could have Night take care of. With a malicious grin spreading across his face an idea came to mind, a plan he wanted done by the swordsman before him.

"Yeah… Remember that swordswoman? The First Mate?" Yasen spoke, a brow raised as he grinned sadistically.

"Ah, yes, Kawakami Saiko, was it?" Night asked, acknowledging Yasen's words. "What about her?".

"I want you to bring her here" Yasen told him, standing up and looking down upon the young swordsman before him. "I want you to bring her here so I can make an example of her to that kid who dared to injure me like this!" he spoke, laughing to himself madly. With one last nod the stoic youth turned on his heel and stepped towards the double doors at the end of the room. As he was about to reach out with his hands and grab the handle of the door he was stopped by Yasen, who called out "Wait!".

"What is it, Yasen?" he asked, turning his head back ever so slightly to look the old man in the eyes. Yasen smirked back to him as he sat behind his desk again.

"I want you to call me 'Captain Yasen'. I may have given up pirating, but I am still the original leader of the Silver Crescent Pirates you now lead, Night!" Yasen spoke, smirking wide. But a light gasp managed to make itself known even with the closed double doors, and immediately Yasen shot up in his seat while Night snapped his head back to the door, before hearing running steps from behind the door.

"Don't let him get away! No one must know!" Yasen shouted, and quickly Night broke through the door, managing to spot the running figure of a young, brown-haired boy in a white doctor's coat escaping down the hall. Drawing his blade from his scabbard, he held it up, gripping the handle with both hands as he rushed after the kid.

"Shit… To think the damn doctor kid would show up then of all times!" Yasen spoke, rage building in his body once more…

* * *

Deep breathing sounded as the young kid sprinted as fast as he could in his comically over-sized doctor's coat, running as fast as he could through the corridors of the palace and heading out the nearest exit he could find, hoping to make his way back to the one person he knew could help him – Kazu.

"I can't believe it… Yasen-sama… Is really a pirate all along!" he spoke, spooked by the thought and now deathly afraid.

Was Yamino Land really safe?

* * *

"Come on, Knight-Risers! It is our duty to defend the peace of Yamino Land! Not even fatigue or injury must slow us!" the red Knight-Riser spoke as he pumped his fist up in the air, and his group imitated him as they cheered back, ready to follow him onto the front lines and hunt down the enemy pirates.

"This way!" Red spoke, and the group of five rushed out the door of their room, ready to make their move upon Yamino Land, unaware of the conflict that was about to take place…

* * *

"Ringringringringring! Ringringringringring! Ring-" the ringing Den Den Mushi's received was snatched up by a silver-haired man on the deck of the Silver Crescent Pirates' ship, quickly bringing it up and speaking into it.

"Oi, Cap'n, what's goin' on? Is somethin' wrong with Night?" he spoke, his face bearing an unusually worried expression.

"Albtraum! Night's just gone after someone who found out my secret – I want you and Crow to take care of the Bebop Pirates! But leave Saiko to Night, got it?! And take care of their ship while you're at it!" he yelled through the Den Den Mushi, to which Albtraum nodded before turning to a member of the crew dressed like some sort of Crow-themed Luchador with a lanky yet strong build.

"Oi, Crow! We're movin' out! Get the oth'r guys ta go after their ship – Yasen's lookin' for total annihilation, got it?!" Albtraum spoke, to which the wrestler-like man pumped his arms up excitedly.

"YOSH! Tonight, the Crow takes flight! Let's pin these Bebop Pirates!" Crow yelled out enthusiastically as Albtraum put the Den Den Mushi down, and quickly turned his attention on the rest of the crew.

"Alrigh' guys, go find the Bebop's ship and burn it down! This is war!" he yelled, and the rest of the crew cheered with their weapons raised, having waited for this for a long time.

"It's huntin' night!" Albtraum yelled with a grin as he and Crow leapt over the railing of their ship and onto the shore, rushing towards the dome where Yasen dwelled.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! Things are getting exciting, aren't they? Yasen's decided on a total war on the Bebops, and Saiko's been targeted by the biggest player – Night! And what's this? A stunning revelation that Yasen is in fact the former Captain of the Silver Crescent Pirates? You can bet that a lot of fighting is about to take place! So until next time, see ya!**


	13. Revelations and A Promise

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

Reuniting in one of many dark streets illuminated by paper lanterns, the group of four frowned almost simultaneously as their efforts to locate their missing friend had been fruitless – And from the looks of it, each could tell the others hadn't found her either. The question of her location was on their minds now, knowing that they needed to find her before something bad happened – If Yasen had gotten to her, for example. The way he had beaten Jared twice now told them that he was incredibly strong. Not to mention, on the first occasion he had all but defeated the entire group. He was dangerous.

"Dammit! Where could she be?!" Kain asked aloud, a look of seriousness on his face. A look that was so dreadfully foreign on his face given his naturally care-free and lax attitude, but here it was on his face. Naturally the others could tell how concerned he was, and they themselves felt the same.

"She was the last one with Jared before he was captured by pirates – If anything, it can be assumed that she may have already tried to break him out a second time-"

"Like hell she would! Ti-chan's much more sensible than that!" Kain retorted, interrupting Roi in mid-thought, although a firm hand on his shoulder made him turn to Saiko, whose slightly furrowed brows, straight mouth and sharp eyes gave him a message that he heeded, stepping down from the discussion.

"You need to calm down, Kain. That look doesn't suit you" she spoke, before breathing out her nose slowly and continuing. "If we plan to find Tigress, we need to think about where she could possibly go to in this situation. She isn't the kind of person who'd do something like going after Jared by herself, so where else would she go?" she asked him, and Kain found himself unable to think straight. Roi's grim expression told him he didn't know either.

"Wait! You mean some Jared guy's been captured by pirates?" Kazu spoke, and the three nodded in response, knowing they had to keep up appearances.

"What a coincidence!" he responded aloud. "There's a pirate named Jared who's locked up in th' cell I'm s'pose ta be guardin'! Course, it's not my shift righ' now…" he commented, and all three stared at him incredulously – they had known Knox was a private doctor for Yasen's palace, but this guy was one of the guards guarding Jared's cell?! All three suddenly found themselves realizing – if they could use this chance, they could free Jared! By which they meant 'knocking him out and stealing the key'. But first and foremost they needed him to find Tigress – he knew the dome far better than they did. Naturally, it would be safer to play things that way.

"Hey, you guys're pretty quite fer a band – Somethin' on yer minds?" he asked, but the three shook their heads in unison.

"Come on, we have to keep moving. Tigress won't be found if we stay here all day" Saiko commented, with the rest agreeing as they took off down the street, only to suddenly stop as a loud shriek sounded out throughout the street. Turning back they just managed to catch the sight of debris shooting outwards from where a loud crash originated from, while people ran in terror and panic from the building. In mere moments it happened again – A black crescent shot outwards and tore open a scar in the earth, rock and dirt blown upwards from the force as the jagged cut in the ground was made. The three pirates' eyes widened at the sight, but Kazu's eyes were fixed upon a small figure with brown hair, who was running frantically with tears in his eyes, a look of fear on his face.

"Elliot! Elliot, what happened to ya?!" he yelled as he ran in recklessly, scooping up the child as he ran to him and holding him close. However, in a moment another black crescent whipped outwards, and for a moment he thought it would hit. However, in the blink of an eye Saiko was suddenly in front of him, her blade raised and drawn from it's scabbard as she slashed through the black energy, making it part to either side of them.

"Saiko-san! How'd ya do that-" Kazu hadn't been able to finish as, from the air a figure leapt down with his blade, and it had only been Saiko's readiness that allowed her to jump upwards and meet his blade in mid-air, clashing her blade with his before pushing him off, making him fall back. The figure skidded as he hit the ground, standing tall in the middle of the street as everyone around him stared in fright or ran. His dark hair and Jolly Roger shirt were unmistakeable for Saiko, Kain and Roi.

"… Your name was 'Night', correct? I remember hearing one of your crewmates call you that" Saiko remarked as she stared down the man, who nodded as he held out his blade, holding it horizontally in front of him.

"You have good hearing. Yes, I am Captain Night, leader of the Silver Crescent Pirates" he responded dully, but the young kid, turning from Kazu for a moment with scared tears in his eyes, thought differently.

"You're a liar!" he yelled, and all around save Night watched with surprise as the brown haired kid continued. "You're working for Yasen! I heard you speaking with him, and how he used to be the old Captain of the crew!".

Saiko, Kain and Roi reacted with stunned silence, while Kazu almost dropped the young kid in sheer disbelief.

"Yasen was the former Captain?!" Kain yelled exasperatedly.

"I had expected there to be some sort of relation… But to think it was this deep…" Roi commented coolly in his usual fashion.

"Yes, the young doctor is correct" Night commented, and focus shifted back to him as he continued to stand with his blade, his black eyes staring at them. "Yasen and I were once crewmates, and remain partners. I would drive pirates into the dome, and he would naturally capture and kill them, to prove that this city needs him. After all, since he came to this island, everyone has felt safer – He has constructed this dome to ward off pirates, has assembled a great fighting force to deal with them, and has personally dealt with problems as well. It's the best way to maintain a hold on this island, and his way of conquering it" he told them, without a single hint of a lie or deceit.

"… You are and odd one" Roi spoke first of the group, his eyes narrowing on the man. "You say this, but just as easily you tell us his plans… Why?".

"I'm sure you would have realized it regardless. Or am I putting too much thought into this?" Night responded, but Roi shook his head.

"No, I was pretty certain that was the case" Roi remarked, just as he reached for his guns.

"Really? I hadn't a clue!" without a hint of irony in his voice Kain admitted his lack of tact. Naturally all in the vicinity sweatdropped.

"Idiot cur…" Roi muttered, only for the Saiko to pick up the conversation.

"So you plan on killing us, right?" she asked, and for the first time Night had not agreed with the statement, shaking his head.

"No. 'Gunslinger Wolf Roi' and 'Kain the White Lance' are indeed to fall to my blade. 'Flash-Draw Saiko', on the other hand… You I have been ordered to take back alive, so that Yasen my kill you before 'Jared de Danser's' eyes" Night responded dryly as he now pointed the tip of his blade towards her threateningly, his second hand coming up and grabbing the hilt of his sword. For a moment the air was still and tense.

"Hey, those're some pretty cool nicknames you guys got there!" Kazu commented, and all within hearing range almost face-faulted from the sheer stupidity of the Fishman, even Knox.

"That's because we're the Bebop Pirates!" the three crewmates announced, berating the Fishman.

"W-Wait, you're Kawakami Saiko?! A-And… Kain and Roi?!" the brown-haired kid Knox spoke, stuttering in shock as he gazed at the three. The stories Jared had told him surfaced in his mind, and a realization dawned upon him – knowing that these three were the ones he spoke of, along with Tigress. These were the crew he held in such high regard – his **Nakama**.

"Heh… Heheh… Hahahaha! Oh, what a funny story! All this time… Th' ones I was meant ta be lookin' for were right in front of me all the time! But… You guys're all pretty great! Savin' me there from that Night fella pays for the night you guys stayed ov'r… So how 'bout this!" Kazu announced, the eyes of all the Bebops, Night and Knox too staring up at him and his wide smirk.

"I'll go help ya save Jared and in return… You play me the best damn song you can think of, got it?!" he announced, and with a grin the three smirked.

"Got it!" Roi, Saiko and Kain echoed in unison, and quickly the group rushed forwards towards Night. At first the pirate attempted to stop them, but Saiko's blade crashed against his own as he attempted to attack, cutting him off and allowing the group to rush on ahead of them. As Kazu, Knox, Kain and Roi's backs faded into the distance of the dark streets, Saiko smirked.

"You said you wanted to take me back to Yasen's place, right? Doing that isn't as easy as you think, Night!" she spoke, while the straight-faced man simply stared back, pushing his blade back against hers.

"Perhaps" he answered back, only to push her blade aside before swinging in, only for the young woman to sidestep the blade and attempt to horizontally bisect the man. His blade returned up and managed to block her sword again, the two locked in battle. "But if it's a swordfight, there is no one on this island who can best me" he finished, and the two began slashing at each other again, neither letting up for a moment.

* * *

"Caw-Caw! Caw-Caw! What's that sound? I'll tell you what it is! That sound is… THE CAW OF THE CROW!"

With a loud yell a crow-themed masked wrestler smashed his way through the streets, throwing aside pedestrians as he rampaged through the streets towards Yasen's palace, people screaming in fear as they moved to avoid him. A silver-haired man in form-fitting black leather smirked as he followed behind the wrestler, his hands in his pocket.

"Heheh… My, my, you're in a pretty good mood t'day, Crow…" he remarked, smirking as he walked after. "But then… So am I! So am I!".

With a light chuckle, his eyes gleamed from behind his silver locks, his hands moving out of his pockets as he rushed ahead, grinning. The thrill was rising, and he was just waiting for a chance to fight.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! What do you think? Good? Bad? I wanted to have a good, long scene with Night again. He's really fun to write, and I plan on writing a lot more scenes with him, naturally. I also like Crow and Albtraum – Crow especially. After all, he's the most electrifying character in One Piece fanfics today!!!**

**Alright, wrestling jokes aside, I tried putting in a lot more humor into this chapter as well, since I didn't think the fic has had enough as it was. It was also a good time to point out how similar Kain and Kazu are, heheh. **

**Anyways, I'll be off. I'll see ya next time! And remember to review, it makes me happy!**


	14. Engaging the Enemy

**One Piece: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

* * *

The group of four consisting of a white, spiky-haired man with a Guan Do spear, a similarly white-haired, hulking Fishman with a brown-haired kid under his arm and lastly a tall man with slicked-back black hair rushed through the streets, ignoring the people who rushed about, pushing through them as they sought to make the quickest path to the palace where Yasen resided. They moved as one through the streets, and with their weapons held out the people would jump out of their way in fright, before recognizing just who they were.

"It's Kain the White Lancer and Gunslinger Wolf Roi!"

"Run indoors! They're both dangerous pirates!"

"IT'S ARMAGEDDON!"

"Oi, honey, that's a bit over-exaggerated…"

Taking no heed of the cries of help that came with people recognizing the group as pirates, the four ran on ahead without stopping for a moment.

"So let me get this straight, Jared's held in the west wing of the palace on the highest floor?" Kain asked the Fishman, who nodded in response.

"Yep! Assumin' he hasn't been moved, he should still be in his cell! We don' have ta worry though – Yasen wants him executed, so he won't be killed b'fore tomorrow! Our only real problem is Yasen and th' Knight-Risers!" Kazu replied, making sure he had a firm hold on Knox, who was still held under his arm safely, though with his comically large doctor's coat dragging along the ground.

"B-But Kazu-nii! Yasen's already defeated Jared twice! Do we really stand a chance against him?" the young kid asked, but rather than Kazu answering the noble spoke.

"In the end he is one man – Even he can go down" Roi answered for the Fishman, hands rapping against the handle of his guns at his sides. His eyes were focused ahead as he spoke rather than on the kid, concentrating more on the palace ahead.

"So, all we have to do is kick an old man's ass! He may have beaten us the first time, but I'll be ready to take him down this time!" Kain boasted, grinning wide from ear to ear.

"Hahahaha! You guys're pretty damn confident! I really like yer style! But I'll be th' one who takes 'im out with a good, strong fist!" Kazu announced, smirking as he pushed up his shades with a hand.

"CAW-CAW! CAW-CAW! The crow takes flight!!!" A voice roared, and suddenly the group skidded to a halt in surprise as a figure crashed through one of the houses ahead, breaking down the entire side of the house and sending debris from the wall crashing into the street as he slowed to a stop. The figure was large and muscular, with a crow-motif in his clothing and a crow mask upon his head, resembling some sort of Masked Wrestler. The man stood before them, smirking as he pumped up both of his fists in the air.

"What does the crow caw, you ask? He caws a requiem for the Bebop Pirates!" he announced, before letting out a shrill cry as he held his arms up, the quartet watching him with a mix of confusion and annoyance. Although the confusion was mostly seen in Kain, who looked at him incredulously.

"… He understands crow-language?" Kain asked aloud, and suddenly both Roi and Knox sweatdropped, with Roi smacking his forehead in irritation.

"Why must I serve on the same ship as this white cur…" he murmured to himself as he shook his head.

"Ooh! Good question, Kain! I bet he was raised by 'em!" Kazu spoke, and this time Knox smacked his forehead. As much as he loved his 'big brother', Kazu certainly had his fair share of stupidity.

"My, my, Crow… A bit excessive, don't ya think? That house looks pretty ruined, if I do say so myself…" muttered a second figure who walked out from the wreckage with his arms folded, bearing silver hair and black, form-fitting clothes. "'Course, I'm in th' mood fer some chaos myself!" he spoke aloud, grinning as he stared down the quartet.

"Let me pick my opponent, Albtraum! I can feel the excitement oozing out of his body just standing near him! My 'rival'!" Crow spoke, beating his own chest. With a dry chuckle the silver-haired man named Albtraum nodded, standing back.

"Fair enough, Crow… Just remember I'll be takin' th' others, 'kay? It'd be a shame if ya took all th' fun…" he commented aloud.

"Oi! If you're goin' ta pick yer opponent… Can we draw straws?" Kazu's question led to the entire group minus Crow sweatdropping again, finding it difficult to take the Fishman seriously at all.

"Just slap a sign saying 'Idiot' on your forehead and be done with it…" murmured the noble.

"Nono! My opponent cannot be so easily picked! For you see, my rival shares two things in common with me!" the wrestler declared, and the four listened quietly, waiting for the rest of his declaration. Two things in common with him? Who of the group could possibly share two things in common with _him?_ "First off! My rival is a man who can down a barrel of rum without the slightest hint of tipsiness!".

"Ooh, I can do that!" Kain spoke, grinning widely. Roi simply sighed.

"Second! My rival is a man whose musculature is that of an idol, an Adonis himself!".

"Well, I don't mean ta brag, but…" Kazu this time was the one who answered, causing the Crow man to frown.

"My rival is a man who can say the alphabet backwards in under ten seconds!".

"O-Oh! I can do that!" this time Knox spoke up, surprised that he shared anything in common with the man.

"My rival is a man-"

"Oh get on with it already…" Roi muttered irritably, annoyed with this absurd situation.

"My rival is a man with sharp points!"

"Well, I have a spear in my hands…"

"My fins're kinda pointy! Does this mean it's a tie?"

"Hm… Then we must declare a tie-breaker! My rival is a man who-"

The wrestler hadn't the chance to finish his sentence. Enraged with the annoying fool of a brute the noble had rushed forwards and leapt up, planting a strong foot right in his face and knocking him backwards, sending the wrestler right to the ground before pushing off of his face and rushing ahead, wasting no time in trying to run all the way to the palace on his own. The noble had grown tired and frustrated with today's events _very _quickly. Both the Fishman and the white-haired spearman watched, stunned by the noble's rather unusual show of anger. Even Crow seemed stunned, lying on the ground in shock. The only one not in shock was Albtraum, who chuckled to himself.

"My, my, and here I thought he was the cool one…" the silver-haired pirate muttered, still chuckling to himself. Following example the Fishman and the young kid rushed past the two pirates, chasing after the gunslinger. When the spearman tried to pass however, Crow suddenly leapt back to his feet. Grabbing the white-haired man by the arm he threw him back, before sending a kick to his middle that made him stumble back with spear in hand before stare back up at Crow, frowning.

"Not so fast, CAW-CAW!" he yelled, assuming a stance as he kept his eyes focused on the Bebop Pirate. "As the last one here… YOU shall be my rival! Prepare to face the Crow, Kain!" he bellowed, pumping up his fists with a yell. The grinning, silver-haired man turned his back on the two, looking ahead.

"Looks like I'll be goin' on ahead, see ya later, Crow!" he remarked before rushing on after the gunslinger, doctor and Fishman, while Kain stared down Crow with his spear in one hand, the other curled into a fist.

"Looks like I got a Crow whose wings need to be clipped…" Kain muttered, while Crow took on a fighting stance once more.

"Let's get ready to rummmmmmmmbllllllllllle!" Crow roared, declaring the fight to begin.

* * *

"Knight-Riser Roll Call! Yellow!"

"Here!" cried a short, young man in a yellow suit with wavy blonde hair.

"Purple!"

"Here!" called a woman in a purple suit with long, blonde hair.

"Green!"

"Here!" announced a large, muscular man in a green suit with strawberry-blonde hair.

"Blue!"

"Here!" replied a young woman in a blue suit with short, brown hair.

"And Red is here! Alright Knight-Risers, move out!" cried the leader, a man in a red suit with dark hair. The group were gathered in the courtyard of the palace, where as one the quickly formed a group pose after completing their roll call, the guards of the palace all watching in wonder. Once finished their posing the group leapt up, rushing down the length of the courtyard.

"Knight-Risers, there have been reports of not just the Bebop Villains, but of the Silver-Crescent Villains as well! Stay sharp and hold Justice close to your heart! We will protect the people even if it costs our lives!" Red announced to the group as he ran on ahead.

"AYE!"

Before the group could even do anything, however, the group found themselves stopping as a loud, hammering noise sounded out through the courtyard, and suddenly the gates ahead were broken completely off their hinges. Ducking, the group were only just able to avoid the gates as they crashed, taking down the rest of the guards behind them, who were unprepared for such an unusual assault. Staring on ahead, Red watched in surprise as the dust settled, with a blue-skinned white-haired Fishman with white fingers, a young kid with a comically oversized doctor's coat and a young man with slicked-back dark hair stood tall in front of where the gates once were.

"Kazu-kun! To think that you would ally yourself with such villains! What has made you lose your way on this path of Justice we walk?!" the Knight-Risers announced, only for the Fishman to grin wide.

"Sorry guys, but… I have a promise that I just can't break! So move aside and I'll bust out Jared!" he yelled back, smirking as he cracked his knuckles.

"We may not understand your reasons… But we shall stop you in the name of Justice!" Blue announced as she assumed a fighting stance with a pair of knives in her hands. Likewise the rest took out their weapons – Purple taking out a long whip, Yellow a pair of knuckle-dusters, Green a large chain and ball and Red a long claymore blade. Each of their weapons were coloured their respective colours.

"So… It is my turn to fight then" Roi spoke as he walked on ahead of the other two, pulling out his dual pistols and twirling them about his fingers for a moment. Clutching them, he held them up, looking at the Knight-Risers with a stern determination.

"Roi…!" Kazu spoke, but Roi silenced him with a look.

"It is your job to find Jared. You are the only one with the knowledge of this palace's layout, it is your job. I will handle these colourful fools…" Roi commented before turning back to the group, who looked at him with frowns.

"You dare underestimate us, Villain?! Very well… Gunslinger Wolf Roi… We shall stop you in your tracks!" Red announced, determinedly.

"Just try it" was Roi's simple response.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yo! I hope you liked this chapter! I rather liked all the humour I was able to put in! Although, I hope I didn't make it too much of a farce with the absurdity of Crow. Still, I can hardly get any more absurd than Oda, can I? Nonetheless, things are about to get intense! In one place we have Saiko vs. Night and in another we have Kain vs. Crow! And as we can see, Roi is about to take on the entire Knight-Riser group! You can tell things are getting exciting! Expect to see Tigress next chapter, and maybe Jared too if I can fit him in! And remember, please review!**

**Oh! And the rewritten first chap of New Voyage is out! I'm sure you'll love it! Check it out!**


	15. Gunslinger Roi vs KnightRisers

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

"Haha! Those Bebops are a couple of idiots! Just look at their ship – Completely unprotected!"

"It'll be a synch to burn it down like this! It's a shame we weren't just allowed to join the group inside the dome and take them on ourselves!"

Damn straight! Hahaha!"

The Silver Crescent Pirates howled cockily under the early morning sky, shortly after the time of midnight. A silver moon hung in the sky above them, with stars littered throughout the vast space. Moored at a beach was the Siren's Song, a large, green and blue ship that was the vessel for the Bebop Pirates. But not anymore, it would seem, as the group each bore torches. Their intent was clear. A smirk sat on their faces as one of their members walked closer to the ship, a firm grip on the torch.

"Here goes!" he yelled, ready to set the place aflame with his torch, but in an instant a blurring figure crashed into him, an elbow slamming into his face and sending him flying down across the dunes of the beach, crashing and skidding along the sandy plains before coming to a stop as he crashed into the rocks.

Suddenly everyone there was alert, instantly taking out a weapon. But as they stared, their eyes widened as they saw a young woman standing there, orange hair with black stripes wearing a sleeveless, black shirt, black stretch pants with orange leg warmers and a pair of martial artist's shoes. White cloth was wrapped around her arms up to the elbows, while her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Staring at the group with a serious look, she watched as the group took notice of her in shock, surprised she would be capable of taking out the other man, but moreso because they hadn't expected to see anyone at all.

"You… Who are you?!" one yelled, gritting his teeth as he held up a sharp blade. Everyone else mimicked him, raising their weapons and preparing themselves for a fight. In response, the woman only had little to say.

"Sorry, but my name isn't important. I'm also running out of time, so I'll have to finish this quickly, too" she remarked. In an instant she changed – her muscles expanding outward as she grew taller, her form growing thick, orange fur with black stripes, hands gaining sharp claws and legs becoming more like a cat's hind legs, better suited to agility. A long tail flickered behind her as she assumed a stance, both claws stretched and ready to use. She bore her fangs at the group, and for a moment all of them shook in fear of this new form, regretting their drive to challenge her.

* * *

Staring down the group ahead of him, Roi seemed oddly calm despite the fact he had claimed he would take all five on at once – the colorfully dressed Knight-Risers each bore a weapon of their own and outnumbered him, putting him at a disadvantage. Regardless, there was no hesitation as Roi drew the pistols from their holsters, watching them with a keen eye as Kazu and Knox stayed behind him. The noble runaway stood watching the group of five, expecting them to move at any moment. But instead they stared back, holding their weapons at the ready. Everything was silent, not even a whisper escaping anyone's lips. But silence couldn't last forever, and all knew that something would disturb it. Without warning the yellow Knight-Riser dashed forwards, throwing punches with his knuckle dusters.

Quickly Roi's hands shot up, holding the pistols upside-down with his pinky fingers on the trigger. While looking odd, the effect was great – In close combat they were utilized like tonfa, taking the hits without problem and providing Roi with a defense. Whipping his leg up, Roi intended to kick Yellow away, but the Knight-Riser was quick to hop backwards and away from him as the bigger, tougher-looking Green attacked with his chain and ball, sending the heavy orb crashing into the earth where Roi had been standing before he recognized the threat and leapt to the side.

But their teamwork was more sophisticated than that – As he leapt out of the way, he was surprised to see Blue rushing in with her dual knives, almost slicing open his face as she swung the edge towards him, only a timely ducking maneuver saving face. In response he slammed the barrel of one of his pistols into her stomach, causing her to stumble back from the force. Before he could follow up, however, the crack of a whip smacked into his forehead, causing his head to snap back. Gritting his teeth, he aimed both pistols at Purple, the one who held the whip, and fired at her, only for Green to step in and use the chain and ball as a makeshift shield. Blue moved in again to slice at him, but Roi immediately ran away, escaping the attacks.

"Nothing can penetrate our teamwork, rogue! Your villainy shall end here!" Red called, and immediately Roi looked back only for Red to slam the hilt of his sword into Roi's stomach, causing him to skid far back and succumb to the blow, falling to his knees from the force.

'_These fools are stronger than I thought…!'_ Roi's thoughts were pulled away however as he watched Red step up with his blade, now intending to slice down upon him, were it not for a certain other individual slamming his blue-skinned knuckles into his face, the powerful surprise blow sending Red flying back to his teammates where he was caught by Green.

"Red!" the Knight-Risers gasped in unison, but the leader, aside from a bruised cheek and bleeding gums, was alright. But staring back at his attacker, he frowned. Kazu had stepped into the fight, fist outstretched still from the heavy punch he had delivered.

"Very nice, Red! I didn't think you could take one o' my hits!" Kazu exclaimed, but a hand caught his wrist, settling the fist down. Roi stood up, still ready to fight. He didn't look Kazu in the eyes at all, instead focusing ahead on their opponents. His hands still held the pistols in the odd, tonfa-like manner, showing how ready he was to fight.

"Move on. I told you I would take them on myself. Or has the water clogged up you ears?" Roi spoke, raising his pistols up in a fighting position, holding a proper stance. "I will open up a way for you to move. You will only have a few seconds".

"Whazzat? But-" Kazu never finished as the runaway prince rushed the group of five once more. A steel determination drove him, no hesitation to be seen in him. Immediately the group responded, Purple running ahead and cracking her whip again – the weapon snapping forwards at Roi and smacking his arm. The whip wrapped itself around his forearm and instantly she took a stronger grip of her weapon, intending to hold Roi in position. Immediately Green leapt up, twirling the great ball of steel by its chain above his head. Swinging down, he sent the weapon crashing towards Roi. The Prince had already begun his maneuver by then, however.

Rather than try to pull against the whip, Roi leapt towards her with the whip, jumping towards purple with his guns raised. Blue sprung into the air to intercept him with her knives, but his leg snapped out in a moment, colliding with her stomach and tossing her back as he came down, a pistol crashing into Purple's helmet. Purple fell, but she was far from finished as she kicked him back, pulling her whip away from him. The prince stumbled back, and immediately the five formed a circle around him.

"Alright, Knight-Risers! We have him!" Red announced, holding his claymore at the ready. For a moment the prince, frowned, growling under his breath in irritation. Holding his weapons up defensively, he took a firm stance, sticking to defense. All five held their weapons at the ready, Yellow with his knuckle dusters, Green with his chain and ball, Blue with her Knives, Purple with her whip and Red with his sword. "You will meet your end here, villain!".

"My end?!" Roi snapped, gripping his guns tightly. At first he seemed agitated, but in a moment the look washed away, reverting to his calmer, more controlled self. "Now, Kain!!" he bellowed, looking up towards the east wall. In a moment the group, stunned by the announcement, were caught of guard and pulled into staring up at the eastern wall with him, only to watch as nothing showed up. Caught unawares, several bullet slammed into Green's larger form, knocking him over onto his back and taking him down.

"Green!!!" the group exclaimed as one, only to hear a crashing as the doors to the mansion were smashed open, Kazu and Knox rushing straight in. Realizing they had been tricked, the group attempted to rush after the two, but Roi would not let them. Several shots reverberated throughout the courtyard, and the Knight-Risers froze, turning back to him. Each one had narrowly avoided a bullet fired by Roi, or perhaps he had let them avoid it. Either way, they realized that he would not let them escape unless they wanted to expose themselves. "You…" Red spoke, gritting his teeth. But it was not he who would act first.

"Green!!!" exclaimed Blue, rushing ahead of the rest of the group as she held her knives tightly, swinging furiously at Roi. The prince moved quickly, trying to fend off her relentless attack with his weapons and trying to dodge what he couldn't block. But despite his agility she managed to outdo him, managing to slice open his shoulder with one cut and leave a wound on his cheek with another. Just as she was about to finish with a stabbing attack to the chest, he thrust both guns forward, slamming the barrels into her chest before firing, the shot blasting into her chest and sending her crashing backwards.

Immediately the others responded, rushing in after their second fallen comrade. With their own cries they attacked, Purple flickering her weapon at him and creating a flurry of whipping attacks as she expertly manipulated the whip. As one blow snapped at his hand he let go of one pistol, only to stumble back towards Yellow, who had a fist reeled back. Staring through his visor, Roi could see the tears in his eyes.

"Bastard!!!" he yelled angrily as he slammed his fist into Roi's side, the force enough to knock the prince to the ground. Roi flinched in pain, staring up at the three Knight-Risers as they stood over him. Red attempted to deal the finishing blow, but with a kicking flourish Roi knocked away the sword and flipped himself onto his feet, grabbing his fallen gun and running with his back turned to them, rushing towards the main gate. But already Purple was their, her whip at the ready.

"You killed Green and Blue! Don't think you can run away without punishment!!!" Purple cried, snapping her weapon forwards. But this time things were different. As she attempted to attack, a bullet burst straight through the section of the handle where the handle and the weapon were bound, and the rest of the whip fell to the ground in an instant. Disarmed, Purple stared in shock at Roi as he held the smoking gun up, skidding to a halt several feet before her.

"Purple! Get out of there!" Yellow exclaimed, but Roi had different plans. Extending both arms out with his pistols aimed towards the Knight-Risers, his pinkie fingers started pulling on the triggers. Shots flew out rapidly like a storm, with Purple, Yellow and Red caught up in it. Roi's arms moved with each shot, sending out a great torrent of shells. The shots slammed into Red, Yellow and Purple, breaking open their helmets and battering their bodies. In moments Roi ran out of ammunition, but that mattered little – the remaining Knight-Risers fell to the ground, defeated in an instant. Sighing, the prince sat on the ground, resting his weapons down and resting.

"Such big-hearted fools, trying to avenge comrades who weren't even dead. I was carrying rubber bullets…" he remarked, sitting in the courtyard with a victory under his belt. The prince had proven he could handle the Grand Line.

**

* * *

Shinobi-dono: Well, there ya go! I've finally updated again! I would have posted this up sooner, but my laptop's horrible for typing out things like this. Admittedly, I don't think this chapter is as good as it could have been, since I feel a little rusty at this. Still, enjoy!**


	16. Break!

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

"Don't falter, he's just one man! His partner's only a kid!" yelled one of the guards as a swarm of men rushed their intruder, each one brandishing their weapon and showing no mercy as they attacked. But despite their formations and their efforts, the group was knocked aside as the intruder continued his charge, plowing through them with incredible strength, carrying the kid on one shoulder.

"I ain't just one man! I'm a Fishman, hahahaha!" Kazu shot back at them, laughing as with just one hand he was able to smack aside his opponents as they came. Men charging with spears were stopped as he grabbed the staff and swung them around like a wrecking ball into their comrades. Warriors with swords were unable to finish their swings as he moved in and knocked them aside. The Fishman's strength was true to reputation. Not one had even scratched him so far.

"Kazu-nii! Be careful!" the auburn-haired kid exclaimed as he sat on the Fishman's shoulders.

"No problem Knoxie!" bellowed back the Fishman as he tore through another wave of guards, disrupting their formation completely. A powerful fist smacked into one of the guards, blowing him back into his comrades and taking them down like pins in a bowling alley.

"Crap, at this rate he'll reach the prisoner!" cried another guard as he watched the chaos in front of him.

"Like hell he will!" snapped a third as he rushed in with a great axe, swinging in for the Fishman's side. But as the weapon was swung, the sharp blade soared through the air, hitting the ground and embedding itself in it as the guard stared at the handle of his axe – all that was left after the Fishman broke the blade clean off. A blue-skinned fist with white digits entered his vision and he was sent flying away.

"Captain!!!" the guards yelled in unison as the man was sent flying, only to be bowled over as the Fishman continued through them. Skidding to a halt, the Fishman burst off again as he rushed around a corner and continued onwards through the labyrinthine prison. Already he could see more guards running towards him with spears, but Kazu was more than ready to face them.

"Oi, Knoxie, hold on tightly! The backlash might knock ya off my shoulder!" Kazu yelled, before Knox nodded and took a tight grip of Kazu's shoulder. Running towards the group with no hesitation, Kazu met them head on and reeled back a fist.

"Take him down!!!" the guards yelled as one, each readying his spear and moving to attack.

"**Karakusagawara Seiken!!!**" the punch exploded forth and hit empty space, for a moment seemingly achieving nothing. The guards, rushing in with no care for his attack, were caught up and only aware when it was too late – A shockwave burst outwards, taking down several. A third of the group were knocked unconscious, while the rest seemed taken aback, startled. Knox had to cling tightly to avoid being blown off while Kazu looked unimpressed.

"Geez, looks like I still haven't gotten it down right… All these guys're still standing!" Kazu sighed, fixing his shades with one hand. Readying his stance, he smirked. "Ah well, I can still take you all on no problem!".

Dashing onwards, Kazu burst into action once more as the guards fought back. His powerful fists cracked bone as they landed solidly on their targets, his foe-tossing charge achieving its intended purpose. Not a hair on Kazu or Knox's heads were touched, no foe capable of breaking through his attacks.

"Go down!" Kazu yelled as he broke through the final wave, making a sprint for the door to the cell block where Jared was kept. Running, Kazu was closing the distance yard by yard as he neared, only for a new opponent to suddenly drop down from above, standing between Kazu and the door. A large, muscular man whose great size was the equivalent of three normal men. Bandages wrapped around his form, but he seemed to not care. His head was bald and his chin coated in stubble, a fierce expression on his face. Black trousers covered his lower body with armor plating along them.

"Halt! This is as far as you go, Fishman!!!" he bellowed, gritting his teeth as he assumed a stance. Frowning, Kazu looked up, staring his opponent in the eyes. "You may have defeated the rest of the guards, but I will not give up! I, the newly-revived Chief Gaoler Kanabo, shall be your opponent!!!".

Staring up at the man, Kazu lowered himself down and allowed Knox to hop off of his shoulder before he stood back up. Raising both of his fists, he took a deep breath before speaking. "If ya won't let me though… I'll break through!" he announced.

Letting out a howling laughter, the Gaoler grinned. "You? Defeat me? Nonsense! You may be a Fishman, but my strength is far superior! You are nothing-!" in a brief moment the Fishman leapt up, arm reeled back before he threw a mighty punch.

"**Hyakumaigawara Seiken!!!**" Kazu roared as his fist crashed into the Gaoler's midsection, forcing the gigantic man to double over and let out blood from his mouth. In a sudden movement, Kanabo lurched backwards before being thrown back through the air like a ragdoll, breaking through the door and the stone wall like it was paper compared to the force propelling him. The remaining conscious guards stared in shock as their leader fell, crashing to the ground. Knox likewise could only gasp in astonishment as his older brother cracked his knuckles, looking back to him.

"C'mon Knoxie!" he grinned. "We're about to go free Jared!" he exclaimed, beckoning the kid to follow. Nodding, Knox ran after him, no guards daring to follow.

* * *

Leaning back against the cold stone, his body covered in heavy bruising and blood, his clothes now ragged from the harsh beating he had been taking in his latest fights, Jared let out a deep breath. His half-lidded eyes skimmed over the complex. For a while now he had been hearing noises, voices, crashes. All sorts of sounds. It hadn't taken him long to realize that it might have been his own crew breaking into the jail to save him, but what of it? Was there something to be gained in this? Jared grit his teeth.

"Idiots… I'm a useless Captain…! Wallowing in pity… I can't even take down an old guy like Yasen!" he spoke softly, his voice strained. He was parched. When was the last time he had a drink? Heck, when was the last time he had some food?

'_You can lie there and die'_ – the words of someone he had fought before were echoing in his mind. Staring up ahead of himself, he could even see the man standing in his cell with him – a large, powerful-looking man with unkempt, black hair, a bare torso clad only in a Marine coat draped over the shoulders. A sick grin was spread across his face as ever.

'_See the difference between us?'_ it was like the specter before him was asking, but in truth it was all in Jared's head, memories of that fight coming to life. Jared remained silent, speechless. The image from his mind seemed only to smirk wider before turning around, the coat billowing behind him like a cape. _'Die as the scum you are, Pirate'._

Closing his eyes, Jared remained motionless. He didn't make a single sound, simply sitting there like a corpse. The only sign of life in him was the steady rise and fall of his chest. But as a loud noise tore through the silence, his eyes shot open, spotting the bars of the jail as they were broken apart, the metal torn asunder by a man with blue skin and white hair, with his fingers and thumbs a similar white color. A large grin was spread across his face and shades covered his eyes. Standing next to him was a child he recognized – that brown haired kid he had talked to the last day.

"You…" Jared spoke, his voice raspy.

"We're here to break ya out, Jared! Your crew's been causin' all kinds of chaos out there! Hahaha!" the Fishman's guffaw echoed in the cell. Jared stared up at him, for a moment considering getting up, but he shook his head.

"Nah… Tell them to go on" he spoke, and suddenly the laughing stopped. The kid's eyes widened as he stared at Jared, while Kazu stared down at him in disbelief.

"What?! What are ya talkin' 'bout, Jared? Yer crew's worried 'bout ya!" he explained, but Jared held up a hand to silence him, sharp eyes staring up.

"What do you want me to do? Get up, race across the island and escape? Is that what you want?! Don't tell me that crap!" Jared snapped, gritting his teeth. "How can I be of use? Hell, what can I accomplish in all of this?! I can't do anything-!".

Before Jared could continue the Fishman moved, grabbing Jared by his collar and lifting him up, slamming him against the wall and pressing him against it.

"Kazu-nii-!" Knox exclaimed, stunned by the action.

"The hell're ya talking 'bout?! You think yer some wise guy?!" Kazu bellowed, glaring at the Pirate through his shades.

"I already asked, what do you want me to do?!" Jared shot back. "This is the Grand Line! Everyone's said it, right? The further along the Grand Line you go, the more dangerous it becomes! Those who survived are real pirates! But look at me! This is the first island on the Grand Line and I can't achieve anything! I can't fight off a pirate gang, I can't fight an old man and his goons, I can't even escape! You think I like sitting here, awaiting death?!".

Fire erupted in Jared's eyes as he glared at the Fishman. "What the hell do you kno-!" before Jared could finish, a powerful punch slammed into his cheek, blasting him through the wall behind and falling to the ground behind it. Staring up in shock, Jared spat out blood as he looked up to an enraged Fishman, glaring back down at him.

"Jared!" Knox cried, but a hand shot in front of him before he could move.

"'You think I like sitting here, awaiting death?!' Cut that crap right now!! When I met up with Knoxie the other day after he finished with you, he told me all about this cool guy who took on th' leader of a rebel gang, a guy who took th' Prince of Bliss away with him as he took on and defeated a Marine Captain! He told me 'bout a guy who risked his life and pushed himself to th' very limit for his nakama!! But all I see here is a damned disgrace!! Quit moanin' and start bein' that guy!!!" he bellowed, only for a clapping to resonate in the air around them. Turning, Kazu glared at a man outside of the cell whose hair was silver and wore form-fitting leather.

"My my, I hope I'm not intrudin'… You guys look pretty busy, hmm? But I'm under orders from Cap'n Yasen. An' ya know what that means?" his words were polite, but his true intent was obvious in his tone.

"I gotta go kill ya'll right where ya stand" he stated calmly, stepping into the cell. Frightened, Knox ran through the hole in the wall and his behind it while Kazu faced him head on.

"Fine then, sit there and make yer choice, Jared! Watch while a real man sticks to his guns!" he announced, assuming his stance.

"Hope ya don't regret this~!".

"Don't worry – I won't!".

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Well, here ya go! What do ya think? This is finally Kazu's chance to shine! Oh, and for those wondering, here are the attacks:**

**Karakusagawara Seiken - (Arabesque Tile True Punch) - A punch to the air that seemingly does nothing before suddenly releasing a shockwave. Kazu's is uncontrolled and weak however as he has not mastered it.**

**Hyakumaigawara Seiken - (Hundred Tile True Punch) - A powerful punch supposedly capable of breaking one hundred tiles.**

**Not much to say this time. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it!**


	17. A Man's Victory

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

A battle of conviction took place as two men in the cell block stared each other down, each set of eyes holding unwavering irises, showing the other no hesitation. One set belonged to a silver-haired man clad in black leather, his stance relaxed but his mind deceptively focused. The other was much greater in size, with a heavy musculature and good height, clad in blue skin with white over the digits of his hands and feet, his small fins hidden under the thick black vest he wore while his legs were clad in denim jeans. A pair of shades rested on the bridge of his nose, but were lowered just enough that he could glare at his foe over them.

"Well well, Mr. Fish, we ought t' begin, righ'? Yasen-sama'd be pretty annoyed" the silver haired one remarked, finally taking his hands out of his pockets and holding them up in a rather fragile, loose guard. For a moment the Fishman thought he was playing a joke, wondering if he actually intended to fight in such a weak stance. But when he failed to correct it, Kazu simply kept up his own fighting stance.

"Begin? I'm 'bout t' end it!" he snapped, and suddenly the larger man was on the move. Clearing the space between them in but a few seconds his hand shot forth, the fist like a cannonball as it cracked forwards. But while the man's head snapped back following the powerful punch, it was not of Kazu's doing – when the fist was but a hair's breadth away the man seemed to sway back, pulling away from the fist and ultimately bending over backwards under Kazu's now outstretched arm. Not letting the silver-haired man get his breath back, he attacked again. But in the same instant, a sudden smack cut him off, the man's fist shooting up like a whip and hitting his face. Stumbling back, he watched as the man, now straight up again, swayed forwards with a heavy downwards punch.

"My my, yer certainly strong. I fel' like I punch'd a brick wall just now" he remarked as his fist came down. Raising his guard Kazu was able to block, but he was surprised as the man's head dipped down under the guard, before shooting forwards and smacking him in the jaw. This time the Fishman almost fell over, the blow managing to do quite some damage. But even though he prevented himself from falling, an uppercut took him by surprise as the man swayed back to full height after the headbutt. The blow rattled Kazu enough that he fell over onto his back, blood escaping his nose.

"Kazu-nii!!" Knox cried, eyes wide as he saw Kazu's nose bleeding. Grunting, Kazu looked up to see an axe kick coming down upon him and rolled out of the way quickly, pushing himself back onto his feet and putting distance between the two.

"What's wrong? Tired? I'm pretty tired myself" the silver-haired man remarked mockingly, causing the Fishman's eyebrows to twitch. Rushing in he threw punch after punch, but lazily the man was able to weave in an out of them, swaying with the punches. When an opening appeared, the man moved in and managed to stop the Fishman in his tracks with a whip-like hook. Angrily returning the sentiment, Kazu missed again as the man swayed to the side again, this time bringing in a hook from the opposite direction.

"No way… Kazu-nii… What's going on?!" Knox asked, watching fearfully as his 'older brother' was beaten up by the man almost effortlessly, who managed to switch between offense and defense in an instant.

"He's… He's swaying. His body's moving lazily enough to just dodge the attacks and, at the same time, he's using his full weight to deliver the attacks. It's messing with Kazu's tempo. After all, usually it's the faster one who holds the advantage, but this guy's brought the fight to his pace. He's in control" Jared spoke, frowning as he watched the fight, sitting against the wall beside Knox. Kazu was taking hits and punches like no tomorrow as the man managed to effortlessly beat him around without taking a hit. "Idiot… He should have just ran!".

"Yer not lookin' so well. Didya catch a cold or sumthin'?" the guy asked, raising a brow. As the confident smirk set in on his face, Kazu grit his teeth and lashed out rashly, frustrated over his inability to hit him. But once more he simply swayed out of the way of the punch. As Kazu whipped his arm around the man was able to lean back under the arm, out of the way. The Fishman angrily swept with his leg, but the silver-haired man let himself fall back, rolling along his back as his feet rose over the sweeping kick. With a kicking flourish he rolled back forwards onto his feet and his arm lunged forwards, smashing heavily into Kazu's face.

"Ya little-!" Kazu shouted, his fist suddenly shooting forwards. Smirking, the man moved to lean back, but as Kazu's fist suddenly stopped in its tracks, he was caught off guard as a heavy fist slammed into his side instead, causing him to lurch forwards under the shock of the pain.

"What the-" but the man never finished as the Fishman rained blows on him, powerful punches and kicks slamming into his body. _'Crap, I've been had!' _he cursed silently in his head, a sudden palm strike causing his head to snap back.

"**Joudan Bakusho!!**" Kazu exclaimed, before suddenly snapping his leg up and landing a side kick to the man's stomach that caused him to double over. "**Kaisoku Harakudashigeri!!**" he bellowed the name of the kick. With his opponent taken down to his knees, Kazu had him right where he wanted him.

"**Hyakumai…**" Kazu started as he pulled back a punch, fierce eyes targeting his opponent.

"_Sh-shit! I've no time-!"_ he swore once more in his mind.

"**Gawara…**" Kazu continued, sliding in close to his opponent with his front leg. Struggling, he attempted to push himself up to move, but by then Kazu was ready to attack.

"**SEIKEN!!!**" he roared as he delivered a straight punch to the man's face, crashing painfully into his nose as blood burst out and covered his fist. In an instant the man was sent flying backwards through the air, spinning from the sheer force behind the punch before crashing straight through the solid stone wall behind, blowing apart the heavy brickwork that composed the wall. Debris fell about as bricks fell out of place and with his opponent down, Kazu let out a deep breath.

"Tha'… Was tough. His punches weren't at all like a Human's" Kazu remarked as he lowered his guard. Standing normally, he turned to Knox and flashed a grin. "You okay, Knoxie?" he asked.

"No problem at all! But shouldn't you think of yourself first…?" Knox asked, looking at the bruises and blood that Kazu seemed to simply laugh off.

"Alrigh', alrigh'! That's IT!!" bellowed a great, resounding voice. Taken by surprise, Kazu snapped his head around to see the man he had been fighting standing in the hole he had made, blood flowing down his forehead and from his nose due to the attack, along with more bruising across his body. His teeth were gritting, the grin long gone by now. Fists were tightened angrily as his eyes screamed of rage behind his silver bangs. "I'm one o' Yasen-sama's greatest fighters, Albtraum Argent! I ain't gonna let my ass get kicked 'round by some piece o' shit, even if he's a Fishman!!!" he roared.

"He's still up?!" Knox asked, eyes wide in shock and fear.

"Tch, of course! Kazu just got lucky!" Jared added bitterly, frowning.

"I'll just take you down one more time! One more time!!" Kazu announced, assuming his stance before rushing his opponent, running straight for him. Albtraum glared as the Fishman ran to him and suddenly, a hand holding a small beaker shot up and he popped a small pill into his mouth. Tossing aside the beaker, his eyes seemed to shut to a close whilst Kazu moved in close and threw a heavy haymaker. It was only at the very last second that Albtraum was able to bring his hand up to push the punch off to one side as he swayed that way, causing Kazu to stare in shock.

"Crap, not this again!" he exclaimed, swinging his fist again. As it came close he made it halt before bringing his knee up, but Albtraum seemed to predict the feint perfectly, pushing his feet backwards as he let his body bend forwards over the knee. Once more Albtraum crashed his head into Kazu's body like a cannonball before skidding in with the fore foot while Kazu stumbled back, his body twisting around as he whipped the back leg around and crashed it into the side of Kazu's head.

"Tch, the same move isn't going to work twice, idiot!" Jared mouthed bitterly again.

"No… It's not that! Look!" Knox exclaimed, looking like he'd seen a ghost as he pointed at Albtraum's face. For a moment it seemed like nothing was wrong, but Jared's jaw dropped as he noticed the problem.

"He's asleep!!!" they yelled in unison, watching as Albtraum landed punch and kick on Kazu as he tried to retaliate. A heavy straight punch was ducked and countered as two arms wrapped around the extended arm and swung him overhead, crashing him into the ground head-first. As Kazu tried to get up a whip-like kick smashed into the side of his face, drawing blood. His body was like a whip in how it moved, moves fluidly snapping at Kazu. It was as though he had become water.

"Dammit… Quit takin' a nap in the middle of a figh'! What are ya, a kindergartener?!" Kazu burst out, only for a snore to greet him.

"Of course…" Jared muttered, sweatdropping.

"Just go down!" the Fishman yelled as he swung another hook, only for his foe to sway back as his leg snapped up, slamming into his jaw. Kazu's head fell back, the blow feeling like it could have taken his head off of his neck. As his opponent swayed back forwards he moved to attack again.

"**Kachiage Haisoku!!**" he roared as his leg shot up to deal a superhuman inner-sole kick to Albtraum's chin, but the sleeping warrior seemed to slip on one foot, falling to the side and avoiding the attack. The foot that seemed to slip however suddenly found ground again however as the other one snapped upwards, a roundhouse kick swinging around from above and crashing down upon Kazu's head of white hair. With the Fishman's face smashing into the floor, cracks spread out like spiderwebs from the point of impact.

"Kazu-nii!" Knox exclaimed, running towards the fight in an attempt to aid him. Jared reached out to try and stop him, but it was only when Albtraum's sleeping form turned on him that he froze. Staring in fear at the warrior, he watched as Albtraum's fist curled and shot downwards, heading straight for Knox. Frozen to the spot, he could do nothing.

"Knox!!" Jared yelled, getting up, but he would be too late to stop it by now. It was only when a much larger form stood in front of the boy and took the hit head on that Knox was saved, though staring in shock at the one who saved him.

"K-Kazu-nii!" the brown-haired boy doctor gasped, looking up at the rather beaten and bruised Fishman as the fist smacked across his face, echoing loudly. For a moment the two stood frozen, neither fighter making a move before Kazu stared back at him, teeth bared to show a row of sharp blades.

"Don't you dare… Touch my lil' bro!" he roared, his fist exploding forth and smashing into the other man's stomach, making him skid backwards under the sheer force. Dropping to his knees for a second, the sleeping Albtraum showed a look of disturbance on his sleeping face.

"Watch this, Jared… ! This is… How a man… Wins!" Kazu spoke, putting up his dukes. With his foe rushing towards him, he grit his teeth. A brief image flashed in his mind.

* * *

"_Why… Why'd ya do it?" a rough, hoarse voice managed to speak aloud, even though its owner was lying in a pool of his own blood. Numerous beaten men lay around him, defeated with heavy wounds. Standing by the tall, lean Fishman's body was a young child with short brown hair, an oversized doctor's coat over his form. The child was nervous and mousey, contrasting the Fishman who lay on the ground._

"_Because you're hurt… I have to treat all the others, too…" he admitted shyly, a bit uncomfortable as he looked at the Fishman._

"_I asked… Why'd ya do it?!" the Fishman cried louder this time, but suddenly he erupted into a fit of coughing, blood seeping out of his wounds a bit quicker. The child bit his bottom lip, but he proceeded to speak._

"_I'm a doctor… I have to help people. Because I took a vow… If there's someone out there who's hurt… I want to help them! I want to make sure they're healed right!" he exclaimed, but the Fishman would have none of it. For a moment he was silent, but a second later he spoke._

"_Even… If he's scum…?"_

_The question hung in the air like a guillotine blade, dangling overhead._

"_You aren't scum" the kid finally answered. "You're a patient"._

_

* * *

_

"Kazu-nii!" Knox exclaimed, stepping back as Albtraum returned to his feet quickly and charged towards the group.

"Dammit Kazu, he's about to strike! Move now!" Jared snapped, but the Fishman stood his ground. Continuing to run forwards, he met Albtraum halfway and the two moved to strike – a falling backhand strike swung down but Kazu was able to twist his head out of the way. Even though a sudden punch came in after the backhanded swing, Kazu didn't falter a bit. As a powerful punch rocketed forwards, Kazu let fly one of his own, the cannon-like fist crashing into Albtraum's.

"**Senmaigawara Seiken!!!**" the words erupted from Kazu's throat as he let out a deep roar, sharp teeth shining in the light as his punch overpowered his foe's and pushed it away before smashing into the silver-haired man's face. The sound of a heavy gong seemed to blast outwards loudly and the man was thrown backwards through the air once more, smashing through not one wall but a second and a third one as well after it. Only after crashing into the heavy iron bars of another cell did he stop, denting the bars with his moment.

Slumping down, Albtraum lay there defeated as Kazu fell back on his behind, letting out a sigh. Knox beamed brightly as he let out a laugh, before running up to his 'older brother' and hugging him tightly. Jared stared in disbelief as Kazu smirked and patted Knox's head.

"That, Jared… Is how a man wins a figh'!" he exclaimed, falling on his back happily. The two brothers shared a bout of laughing.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: I feel this fight was done much better than the last one. The last one felt rushed, but this one felt kind of fun. Initially, Kazu's flashback was supposed to be longer, but I decided to cut out a lot of it in order to keep it simple and not interfere with the rest of the fight. What you have now is a simple scene showing exactly the same as what the flashback initially would have told.**

**Also, all of Kazu's moves are from Fishman Karate so if you wanna see a list of explanations... Go to One Piece Wiki? Seriously, I don't feel much like typing it all out when the attacks already exist in One Piece Canon. And for those wondering, Albtraum uses "Sleeping Fist" style. I was gonna go more in-depth to his character too, but with him spending half the fight asleep, I didn't really get as much of a chance.**


	18. Renewed Vigor

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

Roi dashed through the empty corridors unchallenged – every guard he had seen so far had been knocked unconscious and incapacitated, allowing him free access. Admittedly, however, finding his way about the place had been a difficult task due to his unfamiliarity with the location. It may as well have been a maze, but at this point he had decided to take a simple and easy route – if the path before him contained a lot of people knocked out, it was probably the one he was supposed to follow.

"Trust the Fishman to cause this kind of chaos – Of course, this makes things easier for us" he remarked aloud, turning a corner. Already he could see a large, broken wall that led to a cell block. That was definitely it, he figured. Continuing to run his way down the stone labyrinth, he hopped through the hole and slowed his pace down, stopping as he looked down at two unconscious figures – a huge, muscular one he didn't care much for, although the other was definitely important – with silver hair and leather clothing, this was that member of the Silver Crescent Pirates that had followed them, right? Had he just been defeated? Indeed, blood covered his face and there was terrible bruising across his body. Definitely the work of the Fishman. Staring through another hole in a wall, he could see the one responsible.

"You truly have a messy way of doing things" Roi mused as he stepped through the hole, looking over at the blue-skinned fighter as he sat on the floor, the young doctor Elliot Knox patching up his wounds.

"Ah, Roi! Yer alrigh'! I was worried 'bout ya! But I guess you guys're pretty tough, eh?" Kazu responded, smiling wide for the noble pirate.

"R-Roi-san! You don't look like you've been hurt that much – that's a relief…" the young, brown-haired doctor stated, sighing in relief.

"Even the child knows how to show respect, Fishman. I don't remember allowing you to even call me by my first name" the noble spoke, but he digressed. Looking around, his vision was brought to the cell with the hole in the back of it (Which seemed to be a staple of this Fishman), where Jared could be seen sitting down, leaning against the back wall. "So Jared has been saved. Good. _We _were starting to worry you were not cut out for this kind of job" Roi added, hand resting on the butt of his holstered gun. Looking around, he kept an eye out for any sign of the guards.

"Heheh, ya needn't worry! I took care of 'em all when I busted in here, hahaha!" Kazu laughed, grinning again.

"Try not to move too much, Kazu-nii – You took a lot of hits there…" Knox spoke, warning the Fishman, who nodded in response, understanding. Standing up, he fixed a crick in his neck and cracked his knuckles.

"Alrigh'!" Kazu exclaimed, turning around to look at Jared. "Let's-"

Kazu was interrupted as a powerful fist smacked into the side of his face, strong enough that the Fishman was made to stumble back a step, for a moment stunned and confused. When he managed to regain his focus he looked back towards the direction, seeing an outstretched fist belonging to a certain Pirate Captain.

"That's for punching me earlier!" an irritated voice snapped, the owner inspecting his fist for a moment and frowning, a scowl fixed upon his face. "Man, I've spent all this time in a stupid cell, not even getting a drop of water to drink! I feel weak as hell!".

Staring at the figure, Knox and Kazu couldn't help but smile as they saw him stand on his own two feet.

"If ya need some food, th' kitchen's jus' down th' hall and to th' righ'!" Kazu told him, grinning from ear to ear. Allowing a tiny smirk to crawl onto his face, Roi stepped forth.

"So then, what is the plan. Captain?" he asked.

"The plan?" the man repeated, before smirking wide. Cracking his knuckles as Kazu had before, he stepped forwards and walked past Roi, heading towards the exit. Grabbing the Doskoi Panda shirt he wore, he tore the tattered clothing from his body, leaving his muscular form bare. "First, I'm gonna get something to eat! Then I'm finding that old geezer! Roi, if you haven't already, send this order to the rest of the Bebop Pirates! I'm sick of running and I'm sick of playing defensive!".

Knox was entranced as he watched the back of the man as he spoke, still walking straight for the exit to the cell block. Even though his wounds had gone untreated, he seemed not to care in the slightest. Kazu and Roi meanwhile couldn't help but listen attentively.

"Guys, there's a new badass in town and his name's Jared Del Rey! I'm gonna kick Yasen's wrinkled ass of the face of this planet!" he boasted, proclaiming his victory before the match had even begun. Stopping only for a moment, he stared back at the group, brown hair whipping around. "Keep a good eye out, too – I'm gonna show you a big, bright sun!" he exclaimed, holding up his arm to show the sun tattoo on his bicep. Eyes widened, Kazu stared transfixed at the red-colored marking until Jared pulled his arm back down and walked on ahead, before breaking into a sprint for the kitchen, following the directions he had been given. For a couple of minutes, the group fell silent. However, one of them eventually had to break it.

"Typical. Kazu, Knox, I want you both to follow us" Roi spoke, capturing the attention of the two 'brothers'. "Much like our Captain, we are sick of this Yasen and his pretense at playing a 'Lord'. We have an idea" he told them both before walking on ahead, joined a couple of seconds afterwards by the two.

For once, something seemed to be shining down on them.

* * *

"Caw caw! My Eternal Rival! Is this all to your power?! Caw caw!"

Brought to his knees, the white-haired dragoon panted heavily, his hand clutching his spear and pressing its base into the ground, like a cane to an old man. Blood escaped the corner of his mouth and one of his nostrils, his white hair taking on a pale red tinge. Staring up at the crow-masked luchador, he forced himself to smirk wide, his eyes still sharp.

"I'm far from done, birdbrain!" he snapped back cockily, pushing himself to his feet. Holding his spear ahead of him he slid into a slightly crouched stance, his body feeling tense. "I've still got a lot of fuel in the tank!".

"Good! After all, it would do no good if my Eternal Rival could not… Match… This!" the masked wrestler shouted as he rushed towards the lancer. Kain immediately thrust the blade forwards, only for the fighter to slide in under the spear. Remaining crouched low to the ground, he immediately pushed up and tackled Kain, slamming his shoulder into his abdomen. Letting out a yell Kain was taken to the ground, where Crow began throwing punch after punch at the white-haired lancer while he was down. Defending with one arm, Kain realized that attacking with the spear would be impossible in this situation – Instead, he pushed the sole of his foot up against Crow's abdomen and kicked him off.

Returning to his feet, Kain shot forth after him, swinging the blade of the spear downwards upon Crow. Kicking the flat of the blade to one side, Crow jumped at Kain and extended an arm outwards.

"**Crow's Line!**" Crow bellowed as the arm slammed into Kain's neck. Letting out a choked cough, Kain felt himself flung through the air in a flipping motion before he was able to crash back down – or up? To be honest, what was down and what was up was hard for Kain to discern at this point. However, what he could see heading straight for him was more trouble.

"**Crow Drop!**" he bellowed again, this time a heavy elbow slamming into Kain's chest. Coughing again, this time blood escaped in his saliva, the tiny droplets crashing against Crow's strong arm. Gritting his teeth, Kain yelled angrily as his fist shot up and crashed into the wrestler's face, knocking him away. Pushing himself up with the lance as support, he watched as Crow ran in without hesitation.

"You're a pretty tough guy, huh? Fine, you want close-range – I'll give you it!" Kain yelled, dropping the spear and rushing in. Caught off-guard, another fist smashed into Crow's face like a pounding hammer before the arm extended and bound itself around his head. Running onwards, Kain pulled Crow with him and bulldogged him into the ground, his masked face hitting the floor. Releasing him, Kain rolled over and got to his feet at the same time Crow did, the two angrily exchanging punches and kicks to each other.

"Caw caw! I didn't take you for such a strong opponent! My apologies, my Eternal Rival!" Crow cawed, thrusting a heavy elbow forwards. However, Kain was able to duck under the elbow, before springing back up to deliver a harsh uppercut to the jaw that sent Crow's head reeling back. Disorientated, Crow was unable to see the chopping right as it came down, slamming his head down into the earth.

"I think you'll find I'm more than a match!" Kain boasted, only for the wrestler to surprise him as he took a hold of Kain's legs, sweeping Kain off his feet as he rose and slamming his back into the ground. Keeping a tight hold on Kain's legs, he grinned behind his mask.

"Prepare to fly!" Crow announced as he suddenly dropped backwards, his knees pushing against Kain. As he went down his knees went up and Kain was thrown skywards as Crow released his legs, flying through the air over a building.

"Crap!" Kain yelled, recognizing his impending doom as he crashed into the sign of a bar before breaking straight through it, falling down through the ceiling of the bar much to the shock and fright of its patrons and finally crashing into the floor, surrounded by planks of woods and splinters from the crash.

"Ugh… I'd much rather fall with style thank you very much…" Kain uttered in a moment of pain, trying to shake off the effects of the fall. It took him the best part of a minute to push himself onto all fours, although from there it had been a bit easier to ease himself up onto his knees. However, by the time he had done that, a familiar bird call rang through his ears.

"**SUPER CROW'S LINE!**"

"Aaah crap…" Kain remarked, watching as Crow burst through the window of the floor above and crashed into Kain, slamming his arm into Kain's neck once more and sending the white-haired warrior down to the ground again. The floor shook and splintered, planks of wood bursting up from the ground. The patrons panicked and screamed, running out as fast as they could to avoid the destruction the fight was creating. Standing over his opponent, Crow placed a foot on his chest and posed, his arms held strongly over his head despite his panting and the bruises he had sustained in the fight so far.

"The Crow stands proudly over his Eternal Rival! People!! DO YOU SMELL WHAT THE CROW IS COOKING?!" the exclamations were followed by a shrill cry over the screams of the people and the creaking of the building, much like the cawing of a crow.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Yes, I know. Shameful, isn't it? My parody of wrestlers has resulted in pathetic puns and pop culture references. Sigh, hopefully the next chapter will be less shameful.**

**And as usual, here are the attacks:**

**Crow's Line - Extending his arm to the side, Crow slams his arm into his opponent's chest/neck area, pummeling them with enough force that they are flipped over.**

**Crow Drop - An elbow drop on a downed opponent.**

**Super Crow's Line - An aerial version of Crow's Line, coming at the opponent from above.**

**Enjoy, the next chapter will be up next week, as usual.**


	19. The Rookie and The Champ

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

* * *

**

Kain grit his teeth angrily as he attempted to pull himself together – lying like a mess in the middle of the floor he could only barely make out the victorious cawing of his opponent through the swamp of shrieking and yelling voices around him. Everything was blurred together, making it difficult to distinguish one thing from another. The white-haired lancer was sure he had fainted for but a few seconds just now. Blood spilled from his forehead and his throat felt sore.

Forcing his knee up, he got to one knee, his hands straining to push his own form up. But regardless of the strain he persevered, managing to return to his feet. Taking in a deep breath he tilted his head back, staring up above – a large hole in the ceiling and wall showed the path he had taken when falling into this bar. Pitch black existed outside, but inside he could see the blurred lighting from hung lanterns.

"Caw caw! So my opponent is back to his feet!! Splendid!!!" the realization that Crow knew he was back on his feet forced Kain to spring forwards into a rolling maneuver to escape a wide swing of Crow's arm. Feeling the strength returning to him, Kain managed to return to his feet at the end of the roll, letting out a yell as he charged through the door like a white bull and broke it down with his shoulder. His priority wasn't fighting right now – he needed his spear.

'_What was I thinking? Fighting this guy on his terms is suicide! He's big, strong, fast – The only thing protecting me earlier was my spear!' _Kain told himself, deciding that the only way to fight now was to take back his spear. Daring not to look behind to see the masked wrestler he sprung to one side and darted down an alley way, heading for the street he had left his spear in. But as he was about to emerge in the wide open street, he felt his back bend backwards as something heavy ploughed into him. Thrown into the street he fell down again, rolling over on his side to see Crow now sauntering towards him, arm reeled back. Gritting his teeth, Kain leapt up with a start, slamming the sole of his foot into Crow's face. The warrior stumbled backwards just long enough for Kain to leap aside, his hand swooping in low and scooping up the weapon he had left behind – his Guan Do.

Turning back towards Crow, he shot him a fierce look as he held the weapon up parallel to the ground, a tight grip on the wooden staff. Crow charged once more towards Kain, but this time the white-haired lancer was more than prepared. Roaring angrily, his voice shook the streets around him and Crow, hesitating for a brief moment, felt a sharp blade stab cleanly through his side, causing him to suddenly fall to his knees, blood splattering against the ground. A second later he looked ahead to see the staff weapon being swung around, the butt of the weapon smashing into his face and knocking him over. Standing over him, Kain flashed a confident smirk as he spun the spear over his head.

"I'm not done yet, Crow!" he declared thrusting the blade of the weapon down upon Crow, who smartly enough rolled to the side to avoid, returning to his feet as quickly as possible in order to fight. The spear was dislodged from the earth and once again it was held parallel to it, before the quick feet of Kain pushed off against the ground, the spear rocketing towards the masked wrestler. "**White Jouster!!!**" he bellowed as the fierce stab shot forwards. Leaping to the side, the wrestler stared in shock as the spear collided with the wall that had been behind him, only to break straight through, cracks rupturing the stone and breaking it apart under the sheer force.

Pivoting, Kain swung the blade for Crow, forcing the wrestler into a ducking position. But this time the wrestler was ready again, slamming his elbow into Kain's midsection. Letting out a heavy cough, droplets of blood hit the floor and Kain, gritting his teeth, slammed his knee into Crow's stomach, getting the same effect. Letting out their vicious roars the two exchanged heavy blows with each other, both fighter shaking from the force behind their foe's attack. Simultaneous punches to the jaw, simultaneous kicks to the side, simultaneous headbutts, the two were completely in sync. Smacking the staff of the spear into Crow's torso as Crow hammered his face with a heavy punch, the two were simultaneously sent flying back from each other, crashing along the ground and tearing up the street.

Yelling, Crow bolted down the street on a rampage, heading straight for Kain. Breathing heavily, the white-haired lancer waited for him, holding his spear at the ready. "**White Jumper!!!**" he bellowed, leaping high into the sky with the spear in his hands. Descending like a crashing meteor he pierced downwards with the blade. However, the air escaped his lungs as Crow's head slammed into his midsection, Crow having launched himself into the air like a rocket. Hearing a crack in his body, Kain was sent flying back upwards into the sky, crashing into the roof of a house. As he sat up on the edge, intending to leap down, his opponent caught him first, wrapping his legs around Kain's neck.

"**MORGANARANA!!!**" he bellowed, swinging his body back as his legs pulled on Kain and threw him downwards, the ground seemingly rising upwards to meet him as he crashed into the earth, the impact shaking the street. The street erupted as fissures opened up, spreading outwards from where Kain collided with the earth. The white-haired warrior laid there, head of white stained in crimson with his body battered and bruised. Panting heavily, the masked wrestler who lay next to him slowly pushed himself up onto his feet, using the wall for support. Turning to look at the fallen warrior, he clutched his side in pain where he had been stabbed.

"Caw… Caw… The champion… The Crow… I am the champion!" he exclaimed, chuckling at first before erupting in a fit of laughter, the thunderous chortling echoing throughout the dome almost. Pushing away from the wall he slowly began to pace towards Yasen's manor, grinning behind his crow-head mask. Occasionally using the walls for support he smirked wide, letting out shrill cries much like the bird he emulated. Soon he was able to break out into a full run, grinning.

'_I'm the champ! I'm the champ! I'll finish them all off, all for you, Captain Yasen! I'm the cha-!'_

"**White…**"

Crow froze, almost stumbling forwards as he tried to stop his weak body in mid-step. Before he could turn around to see what had happened, a sharp blade exploded out from his chest, blood splattering against the ground as he was taken off of his feet. For a moment he flew, his head turning ever so slightly to see sharp eyes staring back beneath a mess of red and white, a hand extended forwards. A pitiful shriek escaped the wrestler as he fell, grounded with the spear in his chest.

"**Thrower…**" Kain remarked, looking upon his handiwork for the briefest moment before he sunk into unconsciousness, dreaming of a shining sun. Though he too had fallen, this had been his victory.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Well, it's a bit short… And it came out late… Sorry. I've been sick for the past while, so I haven't really been able to write up the chapter. Fortunately, next week's chapter will be much better. Again, here are the attacks:**

**White Jumper – Similar to Kain's Aerial technique, but far more powerful. **

**White Thrower – A spear attack where Kain throws the weapon like a powerful javelin. At full strength, this can launch a person with the spear.**

**Morganarana – A huracarana-type move where Crow wraps his legs around the opponent's neck, swings his body around and slams them head-first into the ground. It is his strongest attack.**


	20. Saiko vs Night Part 1

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

**

* * *

**

Clashing blades screamed loudly in the night, the two combatants matching each other move for move. Standing atop a high roof covered in tiles, both swordfighters kept their balance with seemingly no difficulty, able to do so and cross swords with no visible problem. Leaping backwards following another clash, the dark-haired male ran along the center of the rooftops, moving towards a nearby cathedral. In a brief moment he hopped before suddenly taking off with a great jump, soaring through the air until he landed on the edge of the cathedral's roof, turning to look down upon his opponent.

She had been wearing her kimono, though the upper half was falling down from her waist where her tight belt held up her clothes. Her upper body, thus, was left bare to the elements save for white cloth wrapped around her chest, managing to cover her ample bosom. Her skin lacked a single scratch save for a single cut on her cheek, where warm blood trickled down towards her jaw line. Her dark hair was worn long, down her back, whilst green irises stared back up at the male.

The dark haired male was likewise mostly uninjured, apart from a small cut horizontally up from his jaw. His dark hair featured blonde highlights throughout it, whilst a white skull was placed upon the chest of his dark shirt. In his left hand he held his katana, his right hand left free. Slowly the hand rose up, before pointing down towards her, getting her attention, as though he didn't have it before.

"Do you think you can really fight at my level?" he spoke calmly, immediately earning her irritation. Bringing back his arm, he extended his blade towards her threateningly. "Though you are indeed skilled, I am afraid you are not yet at a level where you can compete with me. Your blade is too weak".

"Do you really think you're in any position to be telling me what to do?" she questioned him back, holding her sword steady in both hands. "If I didn't know any better, just a few seconds ago, I was fighting with you as an equal" she added coolly.

"Simply put, I'm not impressed" he remarked, suddenly leaping again from the edge of the church roof. Swinging his blade, an arc of black energy swooped in towards her, which would have sliced her clean had she not leapt back to avoid the attack. Coming down from above meanwhile, the swordsman thrust his blade downwards in an attempt to stab down through her, only to be pushed off to the side as he blade swung up and deflected his attack away in a show of strength. Swiping at him, she narrowly missed as he drew his head down before he charged in, managing to get a glancing blow to her side as she sidestepped the attack, tiny speckles of blood hitting the ground. But in exchange for this, she now had a chance – moving in, she aimed to strike with the base of her sword's hilt, almost hitting his temple.

However, once more he displayed acrobatic prowess as he pushed off of his front foot, front-flipping through the air and out of the way before bringing the blade up, managing to graze her shoulder this time before he completed his flip. Feeling the sting of the cut for a second, she moved in quickly to swipe at him, but he was evasive still, suddenly jumping over her head in a single bound, managing to position himself above her with his blade at the ready. Swinging downwards, he aimed to cleave through her brain.

Once more she managed to dodge, pulling her head out of the way as the blade passed through the air. Swinging up at him in turn, she just barely missed her chance as he brought the blade in front of him and blocked the attack. Gritting her teeth, she pushed against him with all of her force and managed to throw him back with strength, sending him through the air. However, he recovered from the initial shock easily enough and landed properly, rolling along the ground before he returned to his feet. Holding his blade firmly in his grip, he curved the blade through the air in front of him, creating another great crescent.

"**Espada Oscura!**" he called at the top of his voice, the wave of darkness spreading outwards and flying towards her. With no hesitation she ran to meet the wave, holding her blade steadily in her hands. Almost immediately there was a powerful collision as the two forces collided, her blade crashing powerfully into the edge of the ebony wave. Both shook under the force of the collision, but ultimately she was not to be outdone.

"**Ryuujin Kai!!**" she exclaimed thunderously as she carved through the sickle-shaped, sable energy. In an instant the blade passed through and she stepped forwards, through where the curve of darkness once was. But suddenly she saw that her opponent was no longer standing before her. The powerful whoosh of a blade through empty space alerted her just in time to move her body, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow as his sword instead cut into her shoulder, deepening the wound he had made there already. Flinching, she stumbled a few steps before swinging up again, the two swordfighters locked their weapons against each other, neither giving ground.

"Understand? This is your limit" he commented as he pushed against her, firmly keeping a hold of his katana with both hands. Not wanting to be outdone she held her position, her green irises continuing to lock onto his eyes.

"My limit?" she repeated to him, her brows furrowing the slightest as her lips remained tightly shut in a straight line across her face. The muscles in her arms bulged slightly as she pushed back against him, suddenly surprising him as he forced him a step back. Looking back into her eyes, he was stunned to see how bright they were. "I don't remember showing you my limit".

She seemed to disappear before his vision, vanishing almost without a trace. Hearing footsteps resounding in the air he looked around himself in a panic, only barely managing to spot a blur before he felt the sharp metal pass through his side splattering blood across the rooftop. Turning to see the blur again he found it had already moved out of his vision again. Panicking he took to the skies again, leaping towards the cathedral's rooftop again. What he failed to realize however was that his opponent had read him perfectly. Turning to the side for an instant, he could see her visage beside him before she smacked the hilt of her katana into his forehead, causing him to descend down and smash into the tiled roof of the cathedral, the heavy squares shifting out of place and falling to the ground far below. Rolling along the ground, he was only jus able to grab a hold of the roof again to keep himself from rolling off the side.

Unfortunately, she stood over him with her blade at the ready, aimed for his throat. The two stared at each other, her face completely deadpan as he looked dumbfounded. Her speed had completely caught him and confounded him. Raising a brow, she seemed to ask him a question without ever opening her mouth. For a moment he looked disturbed, before his lips twisted slightly into a small frown across his face.

"So you were capable of this" he murmured. Casting himself loose, he plummeted over the side of the roof, escaping her blade's point. Immediately she ran to the edge and looked down over it, watching as he descended before stabbing his own blade into the wall, pulling himself along with it and crashing in through a window. She cursed under her breath, before dropping down to repeat his actions – she wasn't going to let this guy escape her like this.

* * *

The rainbow of colored glass shattered in an instant under the weight of a human body, the shards plummeting to the ground as he kept his own form tucked in with the break through the window. Managing to land on his feet he skidded to a halt, only to cock his head around as billowing robes alerted him to the presence of his foe, who proceeded to gracefully come down to the ground. All that illuminated the interior was the light passing through the tinted glass, the two swordfighters standing across the front of the cathedral before the rows of pews.

"Do you intend to stop running?" she asked, her face stern. Glass crunched under her wooden sandals, though she cared little. Clutching his katana tighter, he held it before himself once more, his thin lips curling down.

"Shut up" he told her bluntly. Kicking off from his position he thrust the blade in, only to have his move deflected off to one side. Following the swift parry Saiko swung in her blade in riposte, almost segmenting his head before he pulled his body to the left. Likewise he made a swift move for her neck, his attempts at decapitation cut short as she ducked the move, before suddenly clearing the spot in a sudden whoosh of wind. Hopping to the side he held himself steady on the back of one of the wooden pews, watching as her blurred figure darted towards his position. Frowning, he hopped up again as she managed to cut through the pew, splintering the wood. Sending his own blade down he collided with her sword again and the two stood against each other again. This time he fought her blade off to the side and flipped over her form, landing behind her before pushing up and carrying through with an even slice of his weapon.

Passing through nothing, he realized that she had begun moving again at that tremendous speed, turning into the vague blur he could only barely catch. He relied on the rustling of her robes to record her movement, narrowly avoiding death as he leapt backwards to avoid a potentially lethal move that instead left a thin, shallow cut along his chest. Letting out a wheezing cough he skidded to a halt again, watching as the blur darted towards him. He barely raised his blade in time to block, but even so the sheer speed and force behind it threw him backwards through the air, like a powerful cannonball had smashed into his form and thrown him through the sky. Crying out in pain he crashed to the floor again, blood spurting out from his wound. Cringing, he looked up to see his foe again still rushing him. As her weapon descended upon him he held his blade over himself, defending himself with all of his arm strength against the strike. The two now fought strength against strength, neither willing to let up in the slightest.

'_She's… Strong… But I can defeat her in here… Her speed is nothing!'_ he told himself, suddenly lashing out as the sole of his foot slammed into her stomach, causing her to fall backwards as he rolled onto his feet and prepared a strong stance again. Once she recovered she had been quick to perform her technique, moving at almost unperceived speeds throughout the cathedral's great hall. But Night knew better – he could even shut his eyes now, for there it was – reticent cracks and resounding footsteps. His ears were filled with this light cacophony of sound until suddenly he lashed out – pushing his elbow outwards to one side where it collided correctly with her sword-arm's wrist. Letting out a stunned gasp she almost released her blade, but it mattered little – in an instant he turned on her, creating a gash across her stomach that made her stumble back as blood gushed. Moving again he clashed with her blade, which had only managed to clumsily block his attack.

"Understand?" he told her, continuing to push against her blade. In a burst of strength he powered through her block and managed to cut open her shoulder wound again. "I didn't break in here for nothing – with every step you take the glass underfoot will crunch, and with the acoustics of this building your footsteps are more than loud enough for me to trace!" he announced as he moved in for another swipe, only for her to manage to push it to the side. She attempted to get back at him, only to miss as he ducked underneath, this time thrusting the tip up and almost piercing her through as she narrowly side-stepped the maneuver.

"So long as I fight in this cathedral, my victory is assured!" he declared as he spun on his foot, now swinging the extended blade around in an arc, managing to crash his blade against hers and knock her down with the force. Rolling back onto her feet she quickly returned the blade to its scabbard, hand still gripping the hilt firmly.

"**Battoujutsu: Hachiman Geki!**" she roared as she dashed towards him at high speeds, drawing the blade quickly. However, every sudden strike she made was deflected just as quickly by Night's blade, who managed to catch every swing and parry it as they came. Before she could even get out the last slice he stepped in, smashing his palm into her face and throwing her backwards into a row of pews, the wooden furniture breaking behind the force and splintering. Not hesitating a second, Night suddenly discarded his blade, tossing it into the air.

"Behold, this will be your end – this is my _Segunda Etapa_" he remarked as his form began to change, black fur growing over his body and encasing him in a thin layer of darkness, his ears growing out and becoming larger as the bones in his face shifted unnaturally, his nose extending forwards into a snout whilst his shirt burst open, skin growing between his torso and under his arms. As she rose from the wreckage of the pews, Saiko could only stare dumbfounded at the man's new form.

* * *

"Tch, finally it seems it's ceased. If you ever want anything done, it has to be done yourself…" the old man remarked irritably as he stood up, rolling his shoulders in an attempt to loosen them. His wrinkled face pulled itself into a disgusted scowling look, his fingers and joints cracking at his whim as he prepared himself. Only a dim light entered his room through the window, only just illuminating the room. Stepping around his mahogany desk he began to stride towards the door, bitterly angered – and why wouldn't he be? From the window he could see all – within his courtyard the Knight-Risers had been soundly defeated, his men were running around like headless chickens and from the cries he could hear below, his men guarding the kid had been wiped out soundly. If he didn't know better, he was sure his blood would boil.

"Oi! Albtraum, this is your Captain!" he grumbled into the Ko Den Den Mushi he held in his palm. "Where are you? This is Yasen! Pick up your damn Den Den Mushi!!" he ordered, louder than before. "Who the hell do they think I am, some worn out old man?! I told them – I'm Lord Yasen dammit!" he grit his teeth angrily, but that look was quick to change – a sudden snapping of wood alerted him to the door as he watched the double doors snap off their hinges and shatter apart, shooting through the air and crashing around Yasen, who raised his arms in fear of the falling lumber hitting his form. Lowering his arms he stared angrily at the broken doorframe, as well as the teen who stood there.

Holding one foot outstretched from kicking, the figure only wore a pair of trousers, having decided to go barefoot. His shirt had been torn off and cast aside, revealing a strong upper body that, despite holding some bruising, appeared otherwise quite alright. Auburn hair hung around his head, the jagged ends blowing in front of his face. Staring back at the elder man with contempt, the youth slowly lowered the foot, cracking his neck as he stepped forwards. The old man looked like positively furious, as though he was about to explode.

"Miss me much, geezer?" he asked, his own scowl as great as Yasen's own. "Ya better beg quickly, because I'm going to kick your ass, big time".

The cool comment pushed Yasen further than it should. Howling madly the old man rocketed from his position, pulling an arm back and tightening his fist. The solid punch snapped forwards as he closed in, but the teenager's hand shot up just as quickly and caught it, the impact between the two forces great enough that shockwaves rocketed out from the origin. But even so, the teen didn't budge even an inch as he took the punch. At a loss for words, Yasen watched as the kid tightened his grip on the old man's fist, catching it in a vice.

"See? I'm much stronger!" he snapped suddenly, his foot snapping up just as fast and pounding into the veteran fighter's stomach. Yasen had to fight hard not to suddenly hurl up the contents of his gut, instead suddenly falling to one knee.

Jared de Danser was back.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Well, there you go! I managed to get the new chapter done for you! Hope you enjoyed it! Please review! Oh, and from now on the fic will be updated once a fortnight! This is due to me also currently writing my very own Super Smash Bros. fanfic! If you're a fan, feel free to check it out!**


	21. Jared vs Yasen 1: Nightmare

**Bebop Pirates: Hunting Night**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

* * *

**

Collapsing to his knees from the swift kick to the stomach, Yasen fought for air as he felt all of it escape his lungs in one go. How had this happened? How had this kid managed to get so strong? For a brief moment the old man had faltered and now here he was, kneeling before a kid less than a quarter his age, his fist still clenched tightly in the kid's iron grip. Directing his view upwards he watched as the defiant eyes stared back down at him, boring a hole in his soul. Gritting his teeth, the old man's wrinkled face was pulled into a sickened frown.

"That all? I'm not done yet, geezer!" Jared proclaimed boisterously as his foot shot up again, slamming into Yasen's torso a second time. Bracing against it, the old man forced himself back onto his feet and swiftly responded, his old but toughened fist smashing into Jared's cheek. Now the teen's head snapped back for a moment, slightly stunned by the force of the blow. Both fighters looked at each other for a moment and suddenly, with Jared never releasing the old man's fist once and Yasen showing no signs of trying to reel his arm back, a storm of punches and kicks were traded between them, the two quickly descending into a brawl in the center of the room.

The infighting was violent and bloody in moments – blood escaped Jared's mouth as his gums became busted by a strong hook, Yasen's cheek swelling slightly as a snap kick caught him in the face. Blow after blow was exchanged between them, neither fighter seemingly fazed by how brutal their fight had become in such a short time. Catching Jared's leg, the older man suddenly swung him around, his hand finally released as he threw him far across the room, the young punk crashing into the wooden desk and cracking the tough oak. Watching as Yasen leapt through the air and brought up his elbow, Jared rose with a kicking flourish and stopped Yasen in mid flight as his foot crashed into the old man's face, halting his momentum before letting him fall to the ground.

But almost immediately after as Jared attempted to leap off of the desk and stomp him into the ground, the old man had other ideas, rolling out of the way and getting back to his feet. As soon as Jared recovered from stomping the floor, the old man swept him off his feet with a fierce tackle that flipped the foul-mouthed teen through the air before he fell back to the ground painfully. Turning back towards Jared, Yasen attempted to move in with some punches, but a leg smacked into his side and sent him stumbling to the side before the teen snapped back up onto his feet.

"You're pretty soft Gramps – you should go back to the dry jokes and the senility!" the teen taunted as he whipped up his leg for a roundhouse kick, which was blocked with an arm beside Yasen's face. Scoffing, the old man moved in with a fist that was just deflected off to the side by Jared's arm as the teen reeled his leg back.

"You should just go back to diapers! Kids these days – they're good for nothing!" the old man commented as he stopped a snap kick aimed for his stomach. His arm snapped out violently, a chop smacking into the younger fighter's chest that was remarkably loud. With Jared stumbling back from the force of the chop, he was forced to relive it as Yasen sent a powerful chop across his chest again, the audible smack echoing through the dome. But as he attempted the chop again, Jared's knees folded as he bent over, rotating under the outstretched arm and pivoting on his front foot as the back leg swung up.

"Got it wrong again Gramps – I'm good for kicking your ass!" Jared's words were backed up by a thunderous kick to the old man's jaw that sent his head snapping back, his body lifting off of the ground and flying through the air, over the heavy, oak desk. To his astonishment, Yasen could only stare as he crashed through the glass of his window, shards tearing into his flesh as he fell through and landed on the balcony, a crunch of glass under his back as he felt blood trickle down parts of his upper body, which had been first to crash through the glass. Staring up at the oncoming teen, he steeled himself and just like that he was back up again.

Jumping through the air to meet the teen midway, his arm stretched out as the limb crashed into Jared's throat, causing the teen to fall back and crash into the desk again, splintering the wood with his spine. Jared wheezed and coughed as his throat felt sore and pained – the blow doing a number on his windpipe. A vice seemed to have caught his feet in an instant and suddenly Jared felt his body get swung around in a full circle before being thrown clear across the room again, looking back towards the desk to see it had been the old man's work. Trying to recover as best he could in this situation he whipped his legs around and flipped himself through the air, his feet kicking off against the back wall before he sprung towards his foe once more.

"**Progressive Voo-de-Morcego!**" the teen shouted as both his legs came up and tucked into his body before he suddenly released a deadly drop kick on the surprised fighting veteran, the soles smacking into his chest and smashing him straight through the already greatly ruptured oak. Splintered wood snapped up again, causing both fighters to shield their eyes as Jared hopped back for a moment to escape it. Blood trickling down the side of his face, the old man sneered as he slowly sat up, staring at his surprisingly strong opponent. Likewise Jared stared back, shocked by the strength and durability of the old man.

"You just don't die, huh? Guess Death must be pretty pissed off with ya" Jared commented aloud, his eyes narrowing as he spat blood off to the side. Not replying instantly, Yasen wiped away some of the blood on his face and stood up. Rarely had anyone this young ever managed to deal this kind of damage to him, but here they were – exchanging heavy blows with each other, injuring each other heavily with each hit. Bruising was obvious on both fighters, both already sweating a little from the exertion both had just displayed.

"I've sailed these waters since before your daddy was born, kid – Only the strong get to see old age in the world of piracy" wise words from a wrathful old man who looked quite ready to continue the brawling. Raising his fists up before him, he cracked his neck a little, fixing a crick. "How old are you, kid? You look like you've barely left your momma's sight. Pathetic, naïve, foul mouthed and most of all, _green._ You may be a bit tough, but you're never gonna get anywhere on the Grand Line with this kind of strength".

"Oh really? That's rich, coming from some old geezer who's decided to turn this town into his retirement home, hanging around at the _beginning_ of the Grand Line. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it's less to do with your strength that you've lived so long, Gramps" the teen's words cut deep. In an instant Yasen's frowning face intensified, grit teeth bared as sharp eyes stared him down. Slowly the old man's front foot inched forwards, sliding a bit ahead as his fists tightened.

"You really, really ought to keep your mouth shut, _**brat!**_" he snapped, before rushing the young man like a lion on the hunt. One of the fists opened into a clawed hand and caught the young teen by the throat, raising him up into the air due to the sheer force behind the hand. Legs flailing in the air for a moment, Jared couldn't escape as the old man suddenly pulled him downwards, slamming him full force into the floor and rupturing the earth. "**Nightmare Choke!!**" Yasen bellowed as Jared hacked and coughed again due to the damage to his throat.

Clasping the old man's hand around his throat, Jared fought to force his vice-like grip away from his neck, but Yasen would have none of it, continuing to press harder as he attempted to snap his opponent's neck. Eventually finding strength before the man could kill him Jared managed to kick him off of him, tearing the man's grip away from his windpipe. Gasping for breath, the teen lay there on his back, trying to recover his breath. Pushing himself up with his elbows, he looked over to the old man who had already gotten to his feet, Realizing the immediate danger he rolled to the side as Yasen swung his foot in, an axe-kick breaking apart the floorboards where Jared's head would have been.

Rolling onto his feet, the teen pirate barely avoided a second clothesline as he ducked under Yasen's outstretched arm. Finally catching his breath, he spun on his foot and slammed his knee into the old man's stomach, forcing him back. Raising his knee again he hit Yasen again, this time forcing him to double over from the blow. Bringing his leg up once more, a sharp snap kick struck Yasen in the face and sent him reeling backwards, his nose erupting in a fountain of blood.

"**Metal Ponteira!!!**" Jared cried, before suddenly leaping off of his back foot and rotating his body through the air. Barely seeing it coming, Yasen could do nothing as the heel of the foot slammed into the side of his face, the reverse-roundhouse rapping him in the temple and sending him swaying over to one side. "**Jazz Armada!!!** I'm not done yet!!!" Jared roared. Landing back on his feet, Jared took advantage of Yasen's stunned form and suddenly his leg shot out in a straight kick striking the face again, launching Yasen's muscular form across the room. "**Country Chapa de Frente!!!**".

Crashing into the bookcase, the numerous works of literature fell to the floor as they were shaken from their resting places, Yasen himself falling right in front of it on all fours. His head was shaken by the numerous hits, more blood flowing down his face than earlier. Looking ahead to see the young man racing towards him, his face twisted into a look of pure rage, watching as Jared swung his leg once more for his face, the sole of his foot closing in. With a great roar Yasen's hand shot out and caught the foot, an audible clap like thunder resonating from the impact. Jared's eyes widened as he stared at the old man, who began to rise from his knees as a menacing aura began to manifest. His form was surrounded in strange, purple sparks, with what looked like veins bulging all across his body before settling down again. An unnatural change was taking place, and Jared could only stare as Yasen grinned wide.

"Heheh… Now you've done it. I _really_ didn't think I'd have to use this against some punk, but now that I have, this fight's mine…" he spoke, venom dripping from his tongue as his menacing grin spread across his face. "To survive on this sea means inflicting despair, fear and, most of all, _suffering _on your opponent. I've eaten a Devil Fruit, brat. A Paramecia just like yours. I've eaten the **Pein Pein no Mi**. I'm a _Pain-man!_" he bellowed ecstatically as his fist smacked into Jared, a shock swarming straight through the teen's nervous system in mere moments. He let out a pained cry as he fell backwards, rolling along the ground to a slow stop as he clutched his chest.

"Just now, I used **Anaesthesia Dream **to dull my own pain receptors, and combined it with my **Insomnia Suffering **to amplify the pain you receive each time I hit you. In other words, from now on, I won't feel a single thing you hit me with" he remarked, suddenly rocketing forth and slamming his leg into Jared's abdomen while he was down. Yelling aloud in pain again the teen felt tears escape his eyes as he was thrown clear across the room, sliding along the ground and crashing into the bookcase on the opposite side. "… While you enter a hell like no other".

Licking his lips, the old man cracked his knuckles as he walked over towards Jared slowly. He was going to _enjoy _this.

* * *

"You want us to what?!" Kazu and Knox exclaimed in tandem, staring at Roi incredulously. The group of three ran down the halls of the manor at a lightning-quick pace, the guards thoroughly defeated by this time. The Prince remained calm and cool despite their apparent shock, his eyes merely glancing over to them for a moment as he continued to run with both pistols in his grip. He briefly wondered about whether or not he was going to bother answering, but regardless the gunslinger found himself speaking anyway, deciding it worth his time to bother answering their question.

"You heard us. We plan on exposing this fake who calls himself a 'Lord'. Or are your ears so deaf that we must shout?" he queried, continuing to run along as his eyes scouted out the hallways ahead in case of enemies. "With him exposed as a pirate, the people of this island will cast him out in a moment, sending him away from this land forever. The Marines will take him away and, most likely, he will end up in Impel Down, remaining there for the rest of his life".

"I-I know that, but… Why are you doing it?! You're a pirate, right? I mean, what does this town mean to you? Why would you go so far for it?" the young child doctor asked, causing the gunslinger to pause for a moment, silent. At first Knox thought he wasn't going to answer, but eventually he was proven wrong as the gunslinger finally spoke.

"… For this island? You misunderstand us, so let us make ourselves quite clear. This man chose to capture us and our crewmates, lock us in a cell and arrange for our execution. He has hunted us and sent his men, both fierce pirates and misled guardians, after us in an attempt to kill us. We are not doing it for this land – We're not that nice. We want to put him in his place and show him the same despair he has attempted to inflict upon us. Furthermore," Roi paused, hands tightening their grip on the pistols as he ran alongside the two 'brothers'. "No one who treats his people with such disdain, ruling through deceit, is worth of being called a Lord! We have chosen to take away everything he has as punishment!".

* * *

The gray skies carried a gentle breeze, with the whistling wind being the only sound for miles as the woman stood at the very top of the humongous dome of Yamino Land. Her clothes were stained in a crimson liquid – blood, none of it her own. Orange and black striped hair blew to one side in the wind, a straight, stern look on her face as she stood several paces away from what appeared to be a huge stack of barrels, arranged all around the one spot at the top of the dome. She sighed, casting her eyes to the sky, looking up at the dark blue clouds above her.

"Yeah… This ought to do. Sunrise is almost here. Forgive me for leaving you, Jared… I didn't want any of this. In exchange, I'll bring back to you a beautiful sun…" she commented to no one, her eyes shutting for a moment before she cast them back towards the barrels in front of her. Short, slow steps echoed across the roof of the dome as she neared the barrels, standing before them with her hands by her sides.

"Roi, Kain, Saiko, Jared… I hope you're all alright. I want to see you sailing across the seas again on the **Siren's Song**" she admitted aloud once more before sighing one last time. In the very depths of her heart, she hoped that everyone was okay.

* * *

Screaming in agony, Jared felt his form get thrown across the room again, slamming into the wall before falling to the ground with a dull thud. His breathing was labored whilst his body, bruised, aching and drenched in sweat, was trying to recover from the fierce beating he had been taking for the past few minutes. He could feel bruises swelling on his face as he forced himself up on all fours. Before he could achieve anything else however a hand caught him by the hair, pulling forcibly at the strands before forcing his head back down into the floor, blood escaping Jared's nose as it was busted open by the fact.

"Hmph. You're weak, brat. I've only just started using my powers, and you're already beaten and down for the count!" Yasen boasted arrogantly as he pulled on Jared's hair again, forcing the teen up onto his knees and then his feet once more. Lashing out with a wide, swinging fist, Yasen let it smack into his cheek without flinching for a moment, smirking as he proceeded to clasp Jared's neck again and force him against the wall, slowly tightening his grip around Jared's throat. Gasping, the teen attempted to breathe in what little air his slowly tightening windpipe was capable of taking in.

"Where's that talk now? Where's the wit? The silver tongue? Is it gone already? You see now, this is why I call you green. So much talk that you just can't back up. Today's generation is a group of weaklings. Little brats who can't toughen up and face what's in front of them, always carrying that pathetic confidence that gets stripped away when placed on the line between life and death" his cold words tore at Jared worse than the dozens of punches, kicks and strikes he had received in the fight. The vice on his neck squeezed tighter still, the teen's body beginning to shake and try to fight off the hand.

In response, Yasen's hand stayed put, not relenting to the teen's attempts at removing the appendage from his throat. The old man wiped away the blood from his own mouth as he stared at the kid, who still struggled helplessly against the choke hold. "You understand me, don't you brat? You understand why I'm prolonging this. This isn't just for my amusement – I'm pissed off. Your crew is the first to push me so far. I've never had anyone escape my cells. I've never had to call the Silver Crescent Pirates into the dome itself. And I've never met an annoying brat like you who just. Won't. Die!".

Pulling Jared's head towards him, he proceeded to angrily smash Jared's head right into the wall, breaking down the stone separating the room from the next and releasing Jared, letting him fall amongst the debris of the wall and lie on the ground in pain. His foot slammed onto Jared's chest, causing the pirate captain to gasp once more, confirming he was alive. But even though he said he would enjoy beating up the teen, upon seeing the glaring, fiery look still present in Jared's eyes, something within him completely snapped.

* * *

**Shinobi-dono: Oh wow! Yasen's powerful Devil Fruit, unveiled! With Jared suffering a crippling disadvantage, can he possibly survive, let alone win?!**

**Nightmare Choke – A powerful chokeslam-like maneuver that can cause serious damage to the throat.**

**Anaesthesia Dream – Using the Pein Pein no Mi, Yasen dulls his own pain receptors temporarily, making him unable to feel pain. However, when it wears off, all of the pain comes back all at once.**

**Insomnia Suffering – A technique used to amplify the pain of each strike Yasen makes until the opponent can no longer fight back.**

**Sorry I was a little late this time, but I assure you I won't be next time! And remember, read and review!**


End file.
